Booth's New Life
by DorothyOz
Summary: Booth loved Brennan, and he left for Afghanistan with a broken heart. Fate decided to give him a hand, and bring him love again. Follow him and the squint squad in his trip to find justice and a new life.
1. Prologue

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

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**A/N: Please read**

**Title:** Booth's New Life

**Summary:** Booth loved Brennan, and he left for Afghanistan with a broken heart. Fate decided to give him a hand, and bring him love again. Follow him and the squint squad in his trip to find justice and a new life.

**Genre:** Romance, humor, some angst, crime, season rewrite… pretty much a little bit of everything…

**Season:** Season 5 finale. Season 6 rewrite.

**Spoilers:** All seasons

**Pairing(s):** Booth/Original Female Character (main focus), Angela/Hodgins, Cam/Paul, Wendell/OFC, Booth/Hannah (only for a few chapters)

**Rating:** T (If anyone disagrees please let me know)

**Warnings:** Crime; violence and violent situations (like we'd find in the show); sexual innuendo and not graphic or descriptive sexual situations (again much like we'd find in the show). Not canon. Not B&B story.

**Important Information:** This is a rewrite of season 6 starting from the events of the season 5 finale (the original episodes will be used to create a time line) centered on Booth's life. There will be small and big changes both in the cases and in the personal stories of the characters, as I will be breaking with canon early in the story.

We will see Booth moving on from Brennan, and falling in love again with someone else.

Booth and Brennan will go back to being friends, as they will repair their friendship, but not without some tension, bickering, and arguments.

There will be original cases.

**Comments:** This is a very big and complex story for me, and it's still a WIP. For now, I'll update once every two weeks during the weekend unless something prevents me from doing it.

Please, read and review, let me know what you think about it.

**Disclaimer:** Read profile

**Acknowledgements:** Big thanks to my beta Whatever55 for her great job :)

Also I want to thank FaithinBones for her help with military data, and Covalent Bond for playing the Devil's advocate to help me make this story stronger.

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**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

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**Prologue**

**Timeline:** February 2010

**Season/episode:** Season 5's finale

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He approached the tomb of his dead comrade with heavy steps while observing the peaceful surroundings of the cemetery that his nation designed to honor his fellow servicemen and women. He was wearing his dress uniform and was ready to report to the base that night for a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan, but before that, he needed to see one more time the two Parkers in his life. That need brought him here, to this particular area of this big graveyard, to pay his respects to one Teddy Parker before going to hug his precious boy, Parker Matthew Booth.

Some won't understand his decision; he has a great job and a beautiful son who needed him, so leaving the country for a whole year seems wrong, and some may even call it abandonment. But, he knows best; he knows that he will be doing some good out there; he knows that he will keep in contact with his boy; he knows that they will miss each other, but that they will survive. The most important thing is that he knows that this trip will give him back his sanity, and he will come back stronger and will be a better father for it.

He knows that the moment that she gets onto that plane to Maluku, the bridge that love had built between them over the years will be broken, but that it will still be there standing tall and strong between them: a broken bridge that could be repaired or destroyed. That is where the soldier comes in. He will destroy that bridge freeing the agent to move on, allowing him to keep his much needed sanity.

So today, as he was here standing over the grave of his friend saying a prayer when over the silence of the dead soldiers, he heard the soft squeal of a baby. As if the little one was calling for him, he turned his head to the sound, ready to provide any help needed but what he found was an image that accompanied him for a long time. It was his point of no return. The feeling of warmth the sight created proved to him that he was ready to let go of his love for Brennan and truly move on.

He could see a woman, a very beautiful woman, petite, no taller than 5'5", but still with a perfectly toned body. She was completely dressed in black, or at least that is what it looked like through the black open coat that allowed a black dress and two gorgeous legs to show. Her hair was very long and curly, a deep dark brown, almost black mess of waves hanging freely down her back. But her body, her frame, her hair and her beautiful face could not even begin to compete with her big, warm, black eyes that were filled with love, strength and determination.

She was carrying a baby on her right hip, a little girl of about seven months, while holding tight to the hand of another cute girl of about three years old. Both of the little girls wore twin dark purple coats, bright purple rain boots, gloves and scarves, and berets: little tiny bright purple berets that looked exactly like military berets just in a very girly color.

The beautiful woman that caught his attention stood in front of one of the graves with her very expressive eyes staring intently at the name on the stone. Under the supervision of her mother, the little girl by her side couldn't stop moving nervously and looking in every direction possible, taking in all her surroundings including him.

Suddenly, the little girl dropped a ball and it rolled down in his direction. Obviously, without being conscious of the risks, the little girl wanted to run after it, but her mom stopped her and Booth, always the gentleman, picked up the ball and went to return it to its very cute and very small owner.

"Here ya go, kiddo," he said kneeling down to her eye level and offering the ball with an open hand.

The girl stared at the man a few seconds, studying him and then finally took the ball from his hand.

"What do we say, Maya?" her mom asked her, kindly warning her to mind her manners.

"Thank you, sir," the little girl told him with a smile.

"You're welcome, Maya," Booth answered, returning the smile. "You're wearing a very pretty beret, you know?" he complimented her.

"Yep, like my dad… but his was big, very big and green," the tiny girl told him with a sad smile but her voice was full of wonder, even at the face of the very obvious heartbreaking circumstances. She sounded exactly like any kid would when telling a story.

Booth forced himself to smile at her once more and stood up looking at the woman apologetically and with concern.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he apologized, "and I'm very sorry for your loss," he added. He really was sorry to see such a young family broken that way.

"Don't apologize, they should remember their father," the woman answered with her voice full of sorrow and tearful eyes. But Booth was surprised again by the strength in the woman. Once an old friend of him from his special ops time had told him that the strongest kind of woman was a military wife, and now he was seeing that he was absolutely right; this woman was strong and determined to make her two girls happy and keep the memories of the father that was never coming back home to them.

"I should get going," Booth said in a soft voice, knowing that the conversation had already finished.

The woman nodded, offering him a small smile and whispering a good bye. Booth turned around and started walking towards his car, ready to visit Parker. He hadn't walked far when the woman called after him.

"Hey, Sergeant, take care of yourself out there," she said in that sad voice she had, but even then it sounded more like an order than a plea.

"I will, ma'am," he promised and walked away, convinced that he wasn't going to see her or her daughters ever again.

He couldn't have been more wrong about it, but sometimes being wrong is a very good thing.

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**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 1

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

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**Chapter 1:**

**The Carassious Auratus Auratus' Theory**

**Timeline:** Between February 2010 and September 2010

**Season/episode:** Between season 5's finale and season 6's premiere (during Booth's tour in Afghanistan).

**Note:** The Carassious Auratus Auratus is the common goldfish.

**A/N:** I've put a complete A/N in the prologue where you can find all the information you need to decide if you wish to read this story or not (warnings, pairings, etc). Please go to the prologue and read the A/N.

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Booth had been in Afghanistan for three months already and during that time he had kept in contact with everyone who was dear to him, more or less regularly, with only one exception: Bones.

Everyone, from Cam to Wendell or Caroline or his friend Hank, had found the time to email him every other day, she hadn't even answered his emails. In addition to the emails that kept him in contact with his co-workers, friends, and of course his Jeffersonian family, he had called Pops, Jared, and even Cam regularly enough to know what was happening home.

He knew about the problems and imminent closure of the lab, how Cam had already secured a job as a Federal Coroner in D.C., and how Wendell was now working as a mechanic to save money to go back to college.

He knew Jared and Padme had finally chosen a date for their wedding. It'll be in the summer, a few months after he had returned home, and Jared even asked him to be the best man. He had obviously accepted, happy that his little brother was finally growing up.

He also talked with Parker through Skype once a week, on top of almost daily emails. The boy told him all about school, his friends, his baseball or hockey games… they talked about what they would do when his tour ended, and anything they could come up with. Parker never failed to tell him how much he missed and loved him, and he reassured his son that it was mutual before promising to be careful and hanging up.

Yet, he had been unable to locate or make contact with his partner, if she was still his partner; he was starting to doubt it.

Booth had gone back to the Army and to Afghanistan with the intention of moving on from Brennan. She had made it clear that she didn't want him, and he needed to move on. He couldn't do it in a city full of memories of her and their partnership, and the Army offered him the distance he needed. Moreover, it offered him the opportunity to become stronger, to let the soldier in him control his life long enough to break the connection between Brennan and himself. But even in these circumstances he had wanted to keep in contact with her to keep their partnership and friendship alive. He had written her numerous emails with this objective in mind, but she hadn't answered any of them. She hadn't written him, something he could understand because he knew she was probably busy, but she could have answered him: just a brief email telling him she was safe would have sufficed. He was angry and hurt about it. Hell! He felt abandoned by his friend.

Nonetheless, he had continued to do his job to the best of his abilities, and kept contact with the rest of his family and friends as regularly as possible.

Today, he was talking to Cam on the phone when he asked, or more accurately tried to ask, something that had been bothering him for days.

"Do you think that it's ok if I start with a goldfish?" he asked his old friend.

Understandably, Cam was utterly confused by Booth's words and expressed it the best she could croaking a "What?"

"Parker wanted a dog but Rebecca and I thought that he wasn't ready for it: for the responsibility of taking care of the dog. So, we gave him two goldfish as pets and told him that if he took good care of them we'll talk about it again," Booth told her the story.

Cam would have sworn that she could hear the agent, or sergeant at the moment, smile through the phone all the way from the Middle East to the states. It was probably a good memory for him and it perhaps was accompanied by a lot of other happy memories of his boy observing the fishes, feeding them, learning to care for them, or even trying to avoid cleaning the tank.

All this still didn't explain his strange question, no matter how amusing he found the story.

"Care to elaborate, Seeley," she prompted him to clarify his aforementioned question to her.

"Don't call me Seeley, Camille," he retorted more out of habit, or inertia like the squints might have said, than anything else.

"Don't call me Camille," she played their little game. "Now explain yourself, Big Guy," she added in her no-bullshit boss voice.

"There's this woman, a reporter…she's been kinda…pursuing me a little," Booth answered hesitantly. He wasn't sure of what to make of the perky blonde reporter that he had arrested recently for being in a restricted area and had been pursuing him mercilessly since then. He liked feeling wanted, and he liked being the prey instead of the hunter for a change, but he still wasn't sure of what that meant.

"I'm gonna assume that you meant that the reporter had been going after you like you were the only piece of meat at an all you can eat buffet," Cam translated, amused by his apparent embarrassment, but she continued in a more serious way knowing that her old friend was asking for her advice. "And you're asking me if it would be okay to have a fling and then graduate to a relationship when you feel more ready for it, hence your very odd metaphor about pets."

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of her and the situation but…" he trailed off unable to explain his feelings better and trusting the coroner to understand him.

He had explained to his old friend the fallout of his relationship with Brennan and his decision to reenlist in the Army over dinner just after solving the hoarder case. Cam understood him then and even approved of his decision to stop running after her or waiting for her and moving on with his life. He had confessed to not being able to continue running after her, and to feeling quite old for it. He felt he was running out of time to build a family; he wanted love, to share his life with someone and a family of his own, and he felt that it was now or never. Cam had assured him that he deserved to have all that, and that he should do what was best for him. She had been honest, though, and told him that going to Afghanistan and the Army seemed a little extreme. Nonetheless, she had supported him in that decision and during his deployment with emails and phone calls, and now he was asking for that same honesty and Doctor Saroyan was going to deliver it.

"Yes, Booth, it is more than okay to start with a fish… Hell! If you think that you aren't ready for a fish, start with a plant! Listen, you're there to heal, so if what you need to help that along is to buy a fish, then buy the damn fish," Cam answered candidly and trying to convince the man that he was doing nothing wrong and that he had her approval and support now and would have them in the future if he were to need them.

After his conversation with Cam, Booth felt a lot more confident in his decision to move on from Brennan and build a life for himself with someone else. He knew that he wasn't ready for that yet, but he was ready for something less serious, like a fling. When he dated Catherine, he hadn't been ready to give up on Brennan and move on yet, so he had broken it up after only two dates and that stupid tie she gave him. It hadn't been pleasant to explain her that he was still in love with someone else, even if she took it fairly well. In fact, she guessed what the problem was, and when he couldn't figure out how to say it gently, Catherine finished the sentence for him. As uncomfortable as it had been, it was the right thing to do, and he had done it.

Now, however, he was ready to move on, and while he wasn't ready for a serious relationship, he was more than ready for a fling.

His mind made up, that night he sat with the blonde reporter in the mess hall and had his first date, if you could call a date having dinner in a military cantina in the middle of a war zone, with Hannah Burley.

As the months passed by, the fling became more and more serious and he found himself caring more and more for Hannah. Only two weeks before Caroline called him, he finally was ready to admit that he loved her, and not only to himself, but also to the woman that shared with him the cold desert nights of Afghanistan. The reporter reciprocated his feelings, and even if he still wasn't completely sure of where they could go as a couple, he chose to believe that they could find that place together.

Holding onto that thought as tightly as he could, he said his farewell to Hannah only three hours after a very honest conversation with Caroline.

The prosecutor had called the base demanding to talk with Booth as soon as he returned from patrol. Once he was back in the base, his CO had hauled him into his office, and connected him to the FBI where Caroline and Cullen were waiting for him. They had explained the situation with Cam and the lab, and Cullen had drawn up orders to get him back ASAP. The lawyer had promised to start rolling the ball to get him reassigned to the FBI and free of his contract with the Army using the special clause that Caroline and Cullen added to his contract that basically said that the FBI could recall him and cancel his contract with the military if they wanted, no explanation needed. It probably helped that his old friend Jack, now a general in the Pentagon, threatened Colonel Pelant with snatching him away from them and into his command for the duration of the deployment. Much like his phone call to Fort Myer had saved him from punishment for going AWOL to see Bones at the airport; he helped him with that contract too. Then again, no one really argues with Jack, and it was not about the stars on his shoulders, which helped and in this case a lot, but he had only been a colonel when his CO had said that trying to control Jack was like trying to control a tornado.

On a more personal note, after Cullen left the room, his conversation with Caroline had helped him a lot with something that should have been solved years ago: Parker's custody. She was going to talk to a custody lawyer, the best in Caroline's words, and have her call him during the next week. Booth had decided that it was time to secure his time with Parker; it was time for Rebecca and him to get a real and legal agreement to share the kid's custody properly.

During their goodbye Booth had told Hannah about this and had explained that he was going to do his best to stay in D.C. and to avoid coming back to Afghanistan, which shouldn't be a problem, so he didn't expect to come back. She had understood his need to go back home, or so she said, and they had made promises of doing their best to keep what they have alive until they could see each other again.

He didn't know where his relationship with Hannah would go, or even if it would survive the distance and the separation. In fact, he had the nagging feeling that Hannah wouldn't be with him for long. That conversation he had with Cam about fishes and dogs kept coming back to haunt him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was a fish, a colorful fish, but a fish nonetheless for Hannah, as much as she had been for him at the beginning. He guessed that soon enough the water would get dirty and no one would want to clean it, which always results in dead fish.

But he was ready to try and figure it out along the way. Not even the negative sensations that such a hunch gave him could destroy the hope that filled him, because even if Hannah wasn't the woman for him then someone else would be.

He now knew that he had moved on from Brennan, as proven by the fact that he loved Hannah. He will always love Brennan in some way, because he had loved her deeply for a long time, but he wasn't in love with her anymore. He no longer wanted to share his life with her.

When he had dated Catherine, he hadn't been ready to let go of Brennan and he had broken the relationship after only two dates. When he had started dating Hannah, he had been ready for a fling but not a relationship. Now he loved Hannah and he knew he was ready for a relationship. He was ready to fall in love with someone and he was ready to find someone with whom he could share his life, his whole life. He didn't know if Hannah will be the one, and he suspected that she wouldn't. However, he was sure now Doctor Temperance Brennan wouldn't be that woman which for him meant a real, honest opportunity of falling in love again.

Booth got onto the plane that took him back to the states filled with hope: hope in the future and in love.

Like numerous nights during the last seven months in the desert, a pair of warm, soulful dark brown eyes plagued his dreams all the way back home.

Like all those mornings after those nights, he woke up feeling stronger than when he went to sleep.

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**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think.**

**A/N2: **To those I told I was going to update this before Christmas, I'm sorry for the delay. My studies and preparing for Christmas delayed me.

Happy New Year to everyone!


	3. Chapter 2

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

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**Chapter 2:**

**The Mastodon In The Room**

**Timeline:** September 23rd, 2010

**Season/episode:** 6x01- "The Mastodon in the Room"

**Note/warning(s):** In this chapter you will see a good amount of tension between Booth and Brennan, and even some arguments. Their friendship needs some healing, and for that to happen, they need to get all the anger and hurt feelings out in the open. This is what you will see here: some repressed feelings coming out to light in a not very gracious way. Don't worry too much, though; things will get better in time.

**Note 2:** For curious people and big fans of the show, September 23rd was the airing date of the premiere, as stated in Fox's site.

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Soon after landing in D.C. and having received a text from Caroline with Bones ' flight information, Booth went to meet her at the Reflecting Pool like they had planned before their trips.

They talked a little bit about those trips and their love lives, and yes, Booth lied about the amount of action that he saw in Afghanistan and exaggerated a bit about the deepness of his relationship with Hannah. But he wasn't feeling particularly forthcoming with Brennan about his private business considering that she hadn't bothered to keep in contact with him during his deployment. He was man enough to admit that he was hurt by her attitude and extremely angry about it.

Add to that the consequences their trips had on the rest of the team. With both of them gone, and Hodgins and Angela in an extended honeymoon, the Jeffersonian Medico-legal lab became unproductive and was closed for the time being. The interns couldn't continue their internships without a professor, meaning no internship program which added to the unproductiveness of the lab and resulted in the interns scattered all around the country, with Wendell even in a workshop saving money to go back to college.

Cam didn't blame him. She understood his decision and she knew they could have survived a year with another FBI guy, but she blamed Brennan for putting her needs over the lab's and worst over her own students; and she blamed Angela and Jack for choosing pleasure over the lab. However, she was especially angry with Brennan because it was her trip what prompted the other two squints to have their extremely long honeymoon.

The fact that Cam wasn't blaming him was the only thing stopping Booth from doing so. He knew he had made the right decision when he signed for a year in Afghanistan and he didn't feel guilty for going, but he felt sad and responsible to a certain extent for the consequences his trip had over the lab and the squints. It was only Cam's forgiveness that allowed him to avoid the guilt. It was her who pointed out that less than a third of the responsibility was his: the scientists decided by themselves to leave and he had no responsibility towards the interns, like Doctor Brennan did; that his absence alone wouldn't have had these catastrophic repercussions. She reminded him that he did what was best for him and Parker, therefore freeing him from the guilt.

Guilty or not, he was back in the states for good and he was more than ready to solve the case and save Cam's job.

And that they did. In a shady, creepy, and underfunded Federal Coroner's lab the recently reunited team, Wendell and Sweets included, discovered that the unidentified child's skeleton was not that of Logan Bartlett, the missing boy of the news. The body was of a three-year-old North Korean immigrant who died by accident when choking on one of the wood screws of his crib. Booth and Brennan reassured the mother and her grandfather that they knew the death was an accident and no legal actions would be taken against them for it, and the agent was pretty sure that action would not be taken for the illegal burial either since he was positive Caroline wasn't going to prosecute them.

The team decided to celebrate the solved case but none of them were feeling completely happy about the outcome because, even with one child's death explained, there still was another child missing out there.

Talking about this in the Founding Fathers was when Booth remembered that Logan's father, Trevor, brought a car only three days after his son's disappearance. Suddenly he put all the pieces of the puzzle together: Trevor and Carrie Bartlett were separated and Carrie, a recovering alcoholic had Logan's custody, something that angered Trevor, so he took Logan.

The next day, Booth, Brennan and Carrie went to Dover Park because Logan loved that park with the hope of finding the boy with his father. When the pair finally appeared, Booth arrested the man and Brennan got the kid unharmed to his mother.

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The stakeout had been really clean and there was no reason to suspect that Logan had been hurt by his father in any way or form. Yet, Booth decided to take mother and child to the hospital and have him checked out by a doctor just in case. He ordered another agent to take Trevor to the Hoover and drove the four of them to the hospital after expertly hooking Parker's old car seat into the SUV. He had thrown the car seat into the truck that morning to ensure Logan would travel safely. His gut kept insisting on it, convinced that they were going to get the kid back.

Soon they were all waiting in the emergency room for a pediatrician to come down to examine Logan since their pediatrician was otherwise occupied. Booth was anxious for some unexplained reason which had him walking in circles around the room. He didn't know what was making him so nervous because Logan was okay so his anxiety was unnecessary. Maybe it was just that he didn't like hospitals.

Whatever was making the agent so tense, one thing was sure: he wasn't expecting to know the doctor nor the warm light of recognition in her eyes.

"Sarge, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm not; I told you to be careful. Care to explain to me what are you doing back so soon?" the woman asked, looking directly into his eyes.

"Yes ma'am, you did, and I took very good care of myself. The FBI called me home for a case. I'm an agent," Booth answered, looking more like a chastised five-year-old child than an almost forty-year-old grown up man.

"Yet you came back with broken ribs," the doctor retorted, concern showing through her beautiful eyes and voice.

Brennan had noticed during Trevor's arrest the care Booth moved with, how he favored his left side. It was very subtle indicating his ribs were most probably almost healed, or had only been bruised to begin with, but also proving he had been hurt in some fashion. Still Brennan glared at the woman, not sure she should trust a pediatrician when talking about Booth's health when she knew nothing about the credentials of the woman, and she had only seen him walking in circles a few seconds in an ER waiting room. She was unwilling to admit that she was a little annoyed that he allowed her such a familiarity, or that he seemed captivated by her.

"I don't know who you are but Booth's ribs are not broken. Even if his movements denote care, his ribs have either healed already or were only bruised to begin with," she told the doctor without hesitation, convinced of the veracity of her statement.

"Oh, they were broken, believe me, Agent…" the pediatrician argued, as convinced as the anthropologist. Something in her voice told Booth she was using her own experience, or her husband's, if you want to split hairs, to make this guess.

"Doctor Brennan," the anthropologist corrected bristly.

"Sorry. Doctor Brennan, your friend here had broken ribs very recently," the doctor told her in no uncertain terms. "But now, if you don't mind, he is not my patient at the moment."

She then gave her attention to Carrie Bartlett and introduced herself. "Hello, Mrs. Bartlett. I'm Doctor Foster and I'm here to check Logan out. Please, follow me to one of the cubicles."

Once beside the examination room, she ushered the family inside and told the other two to wait by the door. "Wait here," she ordered Booth, "I'll be redoing that bandage you're wearing too loose because it annoys you in a minute."

Booth knew that he had been caught and that he had no way to escape it, so he leaned on the wall and waited patiently, but Brennan wasn't so accepting of the petite doctor's opinions and she made her opinions clear.

"How could she possibly know if you had broken ribs? You can't know that now. It's impossible to see if they were broken and had healed recently, or if they were only cracked or bruised to begin with; not just by seeing you walk a few seconds; and surely not a pediatrician. Not to mention it is absolutely impossible to know how tight or loose your bandage is if you are really wearing one," she told him, clearly upset by the other woman, "and why did you allow her to order you around? That familiarity is hardly professional!"

"Bones, relax for God's sake!" Booth retorted, a little annoyed with her attitude. If it had been any other woman he would have thought that she was jealous. "First, it's my decision to let her talk to me in one way or another, not yours. Second, I've let you order me around more than once. And third, she's right; my ribs were broken six weeks ago."

Brennan was ready to argue, but the door of the examination room flew open and Doctor Foster signaled him to enter the room. She assured them Logan was perfectly healthy and completely unharmed. Carrie picked Logan up in her arms and walked towards the door to leave the room at the same time that Brennan pushed her way inside, not caring at all about the glare the other doctor was giving her.

"Doctor Brennan, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the room," the pediatrician told her, making it clear that it was an order, not a suggestion.

Seeing Bones was going to argue and the contest could escalate to a bloody fight Booth decided to put an end to it. Plus, he wanted Carrie and Logan where he could see them until they got to the Hoover and he could make certain for himself that Trevor was under control. Who knew what the guy was capable of if he wasn't?

"Ladies, all three of you stay in the room," he ordered. Carrie looked at him oddly and then gave an even odder glare to Brennan. She too probably thought that his partner was jealous, but eventually she got back in and closed the door behind her.

That done, Booth took off his jacket, tie, and dress shirt, and hopped up to the bed ready to be examined and patched up.

"So, how are Maya and…" Booth asked to make a little conversation because he was really interested in them and because he wanted to make the awkward moment a little less awkward.

"Sarah… Her name is Sarah, and they are both good, Sarge… Or is Agent now?" she answered, smiling at him.

"Booth, just call me Booth," he corrected, returning the smile.

"Okay, Booth. These ribs were definitively damaged: a broken rib and two cracked ones, right side… I'm gonna say that the SAPI plate stopped the round but didn't avoid the broken ribs… only three touched ribs, that's very lucky of you," the doctor deduced and Booth just nodded. There was no need for any other answer.

"How can you possibly know that? How did you even know that his ribs had been broken?" Brennan asked, not believing the doctor could know so much with so little information. A five second walk in a waiting room, and a cursory examination could not possibly tell a pediatrician enough about Booth's ribs.

"An educated guess," the doctor answered simply. Booth who was looking at her face, however, saw the shadow cross her eyes, confirming his previous thoughts. It was not simple guess. Her husband had probably suffered the same kind of injury more than once, allowing her to see the particular careful movement of a man with damaged ribs.

"They're almost fully healed. You must still be sore, but everything looks fine. However, I'm gonna redo your bandage to make sure that you can heal completely ASAP," she explained him while she got a new, clean bandage out and started wrapping his chest meticulously.

"So which is it: you don't have a first name, you don't like it, or you just don't wanna tell me?" she asked in a light flirtatious way, very light, nothing obvious, but still there.

"Seeley, and I don't like it at all, Doc," he told her, and putting on his charming smile, he added in a playful voice, "you should reciprocate, Doctor Foster."

"Alexandra… Alex," she answered with a smile while she finished setting the bandage tight enough to really be helpful. "That's it. You can get dressed again," the doctor told him. "And don't you dare loosen it again or I'll kick your ass, capisci?"

The agent nodded and suppressed a smile the best he could. She already seemed to know him far too well. He ordered himself to stop thinking about the doctor in that way, and kept getting dressed.

Something occurred to him then: "I'm gonna need a report of Logan's check-up for the file."

"I guessed as much. I'll have someone deliver it to you at the Hoover today or tomorrow tops," she told him.

"Perfect," Booth answered smiling once more to the beautiful doctor and putting on his dress jacket. What no one noticed as they all left the room was the toy car falling out from one of his pockets.

* * *

Brennan harassed him about the doctor all the way to the Hoover, asking question after question that he refused to answer. She only finally stopped when Mrs. Bartlett pointed out that he probably didn't want to answer in front of her.

He knew that that wasn't going to be the end of it, but still he sent a very grateful look and smile to the woman in the backseat.

Once in the Hoover, Booth directed them to Charlie. "Mrs. Bartlett, this is Agent Charlie Burns. He'll take care of your statement, because I have a very important lunch meeting and still have to take Dr. Brennan to the lab," he explained to the woman.

Leaving Mrs. Bartlett and Logan with Charlie, Booth went to check that Trevor was in custody and that the procedures had been followed to the T. He didn't want the guy to escape justice due to a mistake in the paperwork or something equally stupid.

That done, he took Brennan back to the Jeffersonian, and of course, like he had predicted, she continued grilling him about Alexandra Foster. She wanted to know everything that there was to know about the doctor, and kept accusing him of flirting with her while in a serious relationship with Hannah.

Booth, who was annoyed to begin with, was getting angry with every new question she posed in that accusatory tone of hers. Who the hell did she think she was to judge him? He hadn't been flirting or he didn't think he had, and if he had, it had been harmless. She made it sound like he was cheating on Hannah, which was not the case. He wasn't going to cheat on Hannah no matter how big of a lie that line about heart attacks was. But the worst part was that she was acting more like a jealous girlfriend than his partner, and she didn't get to do that. No sire, she didn't have that right!

At first, he had tried to defend himself while keeping his anger under control, but the angrier he got the more difficult it was, so he settled for just ignoring her. That is until they finally reached the lab.

He saw Cam leaving it, surely she was going for lunch, and decided to give her something he had for her, so he got a little package from the glove compartment and they both got out of the SUV. And just then and there in front of Cam she burst something that threw him through the edge.

"I'm just saying, Booth, that it is not like you to have sex with a woman without even knowing her name and then flirt with her when dating another one," Brennan said in that judgmental tone she used when she thought that she had everything figured out and had already deemed him a bastard. "Plus, she shouldn't have been flirting with you while treating you, it is very unprofessional, and so were you, doing it during a case. It was a very unprofessional attitude of you, Booth."

"Enough!" he barked, facing her with an aggressive stance, showing that he was clearly mad at her. "You are jumping to conclusions, Doctor Brennan. I haven't slept with her, and I wasn't flirting. I have never cheated on a woman and I'm not going to start now. But even if I was flirting, it wouldn't be your business and I sure as hell am not allowing someone who dated two guys at the same time to judge me," he told her in an angry voice. "And I'm going to leave the lecture about professionalism for another day, Doctor I-leave-my-students-without-professor-and-I-date-my-partner's-boss. Not to mention that little stint back there grilling me about Alex in front of the Bartletts."

He then turned around and without another word and without giving the little package to Cam got in the car and drove away. He left Brennan completely stunned and rooted to the spot, probably asking herself what had just happen, but he didn't care, at least not at the moment, he was way too mad at her to care.

The only thing that delayed him was a text from Cam summoning him for lunch the next day to explain what she had just witnessed and wishing him luck for his meeting.

* * *

That same afternoon, Doctor Foster went to the Hoover to give the promised report on Logan's case and to return the toy car. She had planned on using a carrier to take the report to the FBI until a nurse gave her the toy convinced it must be Logan's because she was the last one to use that examination room with the FBI case, and before that there had been no toys in the room. She changed her mind then, and took everything with her on her way home.

In the hall, someone had directed her to the fourth floor where Special Agent in Charge Seeley Booth's office was apparently located. She had been a little surprised at first by the rank she had been given when she asked for him, but then she had the entire elevator trip to think about it and she had to conclude that it made sense: the guy moved with the confidence of a seasoned agent.

When the elevator doors finally opened at her destination she almost bumped into a big black woman who seemed to be leaving the building. After apologizing to each other, Alex asked her for Booth's office. The woman looked at her strangely and then ordered her with a wave of her hand to follow her.

On their way to Booth's office, or at least she thought they were headed that way, the bulky woman decided to make some conversation. She introduced herself as Caroline Julian, D.A. and explained that Booth had already left for the day because he had some important things to do for his reinstating in the FBI after his service in Afghanistan. In turn, Alex introduced herself and explained her presence in the building.

"So, Doctor Foster, you came all the way here just to hand Booth a report and return a toy… hum… is that about right, Cherie?" Caroline asked while looking intently into Alex eyes, "because it looks to me like you just wanted to see the handsome FBI guy again."

"I didn't say that, Miss Julian," Alex retorted looking at her straight in the eye. She could admit to herself that the lawyer was right, but she wasn't ready to admit it to anyone else, even if her answer was giving it away.

"Yet, you didn't deny it, Cherie," Caroline answered sizing the doctor and deciding almost instantly that she liked her better than the reporter. Yes, you could argue that she hadn't met the reporter, just seen some photos, but she had a good eye for these things, and she knew Seeley Booth, and Seeley Booth wasn't in love with the reporter, he loved her enough, but he wasn't in love with her.

Alex decided wisely to not answer to that. She wasn't going to admit it, but she wasn't going to lie either. Plus she got the feeling that the woman in front of her was a real mama bear; she was to be feared but also a good ally depending on which side you were on. If she ever decided she wanted Seeley Booth, she wasn't ready to admit that she may, Caroline would have to be in her side of the camp.

"Well, here we are, Cherie. Leave that on the table," Caroline ordered while she fetched those colorful note pads of the agent. Once she found one, she handed the paper to Alex. "Leave him a note."

That done, she ushered her out of the room and called for a very young agent: tall, skinny, black hair, dark eyes, baby face, in fact he didn't look older than twenty something and he looked like a desk bound agent. He sure wasn't a G.I. Joe. Caroline called him "kid" for a very good reason. He did look like a kid, way too young to be in the Hoover building, however he did work in the building and she ordered him to get Booth's office door locked.

When they finally made it to the elevator and the doors were closed, Caroline gave the doctor some advice. "He's dating a war correspondent now but I don't expect it to work for much longer…you may want to drop by in a month or two."

Alex knew she was in Caroline Julian's good book, so she smiled at the woman and left the Hoover happier than she entered.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think :)**

* * *

**A/N: About the argument: **I know that some of you are probably ready to throw some rotten tomatoes my way. Both Booth and Brennan were hurtful towards each other during their argument, but arguments are sadly often pretty ugly. Things will get better between them but for that to happen they need to get all the shit out. Just bear with me for a while.

**A/N 2: About Booth's ribs:**

Due to the way SAPI plates work broken ribs and/or internal bleeding is possible and frequent injury when the plate stops a bullet. These plates stop the bullet from going through the body, but they're made basically of hard materials (like ceramic composites e.g.) and the energy of the impact of the bullet on the body is absorbed by the softer (and more elastic) body of the soldier.

Booth's attitude towards the bandage he's wearing is based on what a friend of mine did when he had 2 broken ribs after the motorcycle accident. Once his ribs were fused the bandage annoyed him because it compressed his thoracic box not allowing him to breathe freely. Of course, this was done to allow the ribs to heal completely but he kept loosening the bandage… which in turn drove his mom (a nurse) crazy!


	4. Chapter 3

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

**The mastodon displacement**

**Timeline:** September, 2010; First week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** Post 6x01- "The Mastodon in the Room"

**Note/warnings:** In this chapter you will see some tension between Booth and Brennan. Their friendship will heal, but you must remember that it will take time.

* * *

Booth left Afghanistan with his final orders for release from duty and his DD form 214 in hand, knowing that Caroline and Cullen had already rescinded his contract with the Army, meaning he left the base completely free of his liaison with the Military. They reinstated him temporally to the FBI that very same night after the meeting about Logan's case the squint squad, Caroline, and himself held at the Hoover, but to get himself fully reinstated in his post, he needed to pass a medical check-up, the physical tests, a psychological review, and recertify as a marksman. So after his lunch meeting with the custody lawyer, Julia Garcia, that had gone better than he expected, he went to see the FBI doctor.

Dr. William told him for the second time in a day that he was more or less healed, sore but healed, and that he was free to go back to his normal duties in the bureau and to pass his physical tests.

He felt pretty good about it, so he called the Hoover to schedule the physical and the marksman tests for that very same week before he got swamped with some case. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Sweets, so he left that for another day, and called Cam to change their lunch for dinner tonight; he even offered to cook for her. Cam, who was eager to know what his argument with Brennan had been about, agreed immediately.

He busied himself with making dinner, and calling Parker to ask him about his day and wish him goodnight, just to talk a little with his kid, until Cam finally arrived.

After the polite greetings and the common pleasantries, Cam jumped directly to the event she had witnessed. "So what was all that about, Booth? I don't think I've ever seen you so mad at her and it isn't the first time she has told you something inappropriate."

"Remember the woman with the two girls that I saw in the cemetery before my deployment?" he asked.

"Yeah, you described them to me in detail, and I mean in great detail, in one of your emails," Cam answered. The timber of her voice told him that he had given her way too much detail but he decided not to comment on it.

"She was the pediatrician that checked Logan and she noticed my ribs and had redone my bandage," he explained.

"Okay, so how did you go from a pediatrician redoing your bandage to Brennan cranky about it and you two arguing?" Cam asked in her boss voice when he stopped his explanation there.

Booth groaned, dreading having to explain the whole incident to his old friend; he got the feeling that he was going to have to explain his feelings for Brennan, Hannah, and even the doctor. "Everything started with Bones arguing with her about my ribs; then she said that the way she talked to me wasn't professional because she was friendly… then she grilled me with questions during the whole drive; saying that I was flirting with Alex… everything she said was in that accusatory tone of hers that tells you that she has already judged and condemned you… and well, you heard her… I just snapped."

"Alex?" Cam asked, lifting one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows.

"Not you too, Camille," Booth whined. "Her name is Alexandra Foster, and yes we exchanged names, but it was friendly, not flirty."

"Don't call me Camille, Seeley, and are you sure that you two weren't flirting because your boyish smile tells me that you like her," Cam argued.

"So what if I like her, Cam? She's an attractive woman. It doesn't mean that I'm gonna cheat on Hannah or anything. It was awkward, you know: the three women there while she checked my ribs… so I asked about her kids, she asked my name, and I asked about hers, and I admit that I was playful when I asked her name, but the rest all strictly friendly, I swear," the agent defended himself. "And don't call me Seeley."

"Yeah, I can see how having three women surrounding you while you're half naked would have make you uncomfortable," Cam joked in a suggestive voice that made Booth groan. "Okay, no more jokes. Look, your life is none of her business so live it however you please; but let her do whatever she wants. Don't put your nose in her business either. Just don't allow it to affect your job," she said more serious. "But let me tell you that you kinda trapped yourself with that heart attack line you fed her."

"Yeah, I know, but in some ways it's true… I can't go back to Bones. I just can't, and I love Hannah… I'm not in love with her, and I'm not sure how long it's gonna last, but I do love her," he answered honestly, expressing his feelings the best he knew how.

Cam nodded, accepting his answer and letting her understanding show on her face. He had had enough of Brennan's emotional issues, and now he was way past the point of no return. He just didn't love Brennan that way anymore. He will always love her in some way because he was in love with her for a very long time, and his love was intense and deep, and it left one of those marks he used to talk about. Just like he loved Rebecca, and he would always love her in some way for giving him Parker, but he no longer desired to share his life with her. For different reasons and in different ways his love for both women faded from his heart leaving those marks. Brennan's mark was raw and still hurt him, but it was a mark, no longer the present. And because it was only a mark he could finally move on. If he moved on with Hannah or not, wasn't going to change that.

Considering that topic closed, she went to another one, one she knew her friend considered the most important of all. "And now, Big Guy, tell me how was the meeting with the lawyer?" the coroner asked showing real interest.

"Good. She's going to draw a contract. We'll discuss it, change anything I want changed and then we'll talk with Rebecca, her lawyer, if she wants one, and a mediator. I don't want to put Parker through a custody hearing if I can help it, so Julia suggested the mediator thing. She said I have good options of getting half custody going to court but with the mediator it depends on how receptive Rebecca is to it. She thinks it will be relatively easy for me to get more and regular time with Parks, and more power to decide things and guarantee that she won't be able to take him away, you know move to another state with him or something. I may not get a 50/50 deal but I would save Parker the ordeal and get more and more regular time with him," he explained with a bright smile.

"That's good. I'm happy for you, Booth," Cam said honestly. "So, when are you going to meet with her again?"

"This weekend, Saturday morning in her office," he answered excited about the prospect of getting more legal rights over his son. "Caroline gave her my name, so I think she's giving me some kind of special treatment."

"Good. You've earned that special treatment, Booth," Cam told him firmly.

"And now that I've been fed, and I have my dose of gossip and I know that everything seems to be good with you, I'm going to go back to my teenage daughter," Cam said standing up.

Booth followed suit and stood up too, helping her into her coat and showing her to the door. "Oh, wait, I have something for you," he said when she was already leaving through the door.

He went back to the kitchen to retrieve the small package that he forgot to give her do to his argument with Brennan. He came back with it and handed it to his old friend. "Thanks for your support".

"One of those wood things you carve with your issued knife when you get bored?" she asked teasingly, yet her smile was honest and her eyes told him that she appreciated it.

Booth nodded to let her know that her guess was accurate, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Cam. See you tomorrow… lunch, you got to tell me about Paul."

* * *

The next day when he reached his office, he found on his desk the report Alex brought him, the toy, and a simple note telling him to give the toy back to its rightful and short owner and to take care of himself. He smiled softly seeing it was Parker's car. It probably had been in his jacket for a while before his deployment. Still he was grateful because Parker loved that car and he probably had been looking for it all this time.

"So, Cherie, did she leave her number?" Caroline asked, entering his office as if she owned the place.

"No, no, no, not you too," Booth whined like a little kid. "And she did not leave her number."

"Umm… Shame. I like her; you should call the hospital, Cherie," she told him completely unphased by his complains.

"Why must you all pester me with this?" he asked dramatically and making a show of letting his body crumble into his chair.

"Who is all? And we must because your smile gives away that you like the doctor, Cherie," she said with that voice and pose that told him arguing with her was useless.

"Bones, Cam, and now you… you all keep saying I like Alex," he complained.

"Umm… Alex, eh? … And you aren't denying it either," Caroline pointed out, just like Cam did the previous night.

"Caroline, I love Hannah. Even if I call Alex it wouldn't be because I like her, it would be to thank her for returning Parker's toy," Booth said, a little annoyed with so much interference.

"So you love Hannah, but you're going to call the doctor. Cherie, are you sure about this reporter of yours?" Caroline asked, now using her motherly voice.

"Look, Caroline, I love Hannah. I do. I don't know how long it will last; I want roots and she doesn't… we'll have to make decisions sooner or later, but I do love her, and until then I'm going to enjoy what I have with her, okay?" he told her honestly.

"Fair enough, Cherie. But let me tell you that the pretty doctor couldn't deny that she came all the way here to see you, so call her!" she ordered and left the room just like she got there, like she owned the place.

Booth picked up the phone and called the hospital as soon as Caroline was out of ear range. The nurse that answered the phone told him that Doctor Foster was in surgery but that he could leave a message.

"Thanks for returning my son's toy," he dictated the message. "Yes, my name is Seeley Booth," he told her through the phone.

* * *

During the rest of the week Booth passed both his physical and marksman tests, and even scheduled the first session with Sweets for his psychological review for the next one.

He had a meeting with Assistant Director Hacker (A.D. of Criminal Investigative Division), Executive Assistant Director Goldsmith (E.A.D of the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch) and Deputy Director Cullen about his reinstatement in the bureau including the psychological review that he was going to need to pass, his need to delegate more tasks on his agents due to the change he hoped to accomplish in his life with Parker, and even the fact that he was dating a reporter.

He had been honest with them about everything. He had promised to make sure dating a reporter wouldn't become a problem for his cases and that he would take his sessions with Sweets seriously.

Then, the meeting turned into a department organizational one. He reminded them that when they promoted him two years ago, when his predecessor retired, to Special Agent in Charge of the Major Crimes Department in D.C. Field Office he had been the only agent in charge of one the units inside said department and the liaison with the Jeffersonian, even if during the course of a case he had done more than just homicides. He told them, that then he hadn't known how to delegate but that in time he did learn how to do it, and before he left for Afghanistan he reorganized the department in different specialized units or teams and promoted the agents in charge of those units to Supervisory Special Agents to put them a step over the rest of his agents.

On that note, Burns and Corby, who had in fact substituted him during his deployment, were his right hands and he had given them an increasing number of tasks, so he told his bosses that it was time for them to be officially considered his seconds in command, in military terms. The military terminology lifted Hacker's eyebrows but got the point across: they both should be promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

After this, Booth told his bosses that they couldn't allow another disaster with the lab like the recent one to occur, nor could they stop working with them just because he needed a vacation or broke an arm. The solution was simple: they needed another agent that could work with the squints if he wasn't available. But seeing how every time another agent had substituted for him, for whatever reason, had been a complete disaster, he proposed training a junior Special Agent from the start, someone who was past the probationary period but still fresh from Quantico. He would chose and train the agent himself, and then he would also introduce the agent into the lab himself to avoid the squints seeing him as an outsider.

Finally, Booth had made it clear that he really needed to delegate as much as possible in Burns and Corby, especially if he was going to train someone to be a secondary liaison with the Jeffersonian on top of his entire work load. Due to the changes he needed to do for Parker, he wasn't going to be able to pull as many hours as he did in the past which meant he needed to delegate a lot.

Cullen told him that the only reason he pulled those hours was quite simple: he didn't really know how to delegate and he didn't do it enough. It was probably related to not having a life outside his job, his son who he only saw occasionally when his ex allowed him to do so, and his squints and other work friends. He didn't mention that, though; Cullen liked Booth too much to point it out to him. "You learned to delegate? You mean to tell me that almost doubling your hours is delegating. Hell! The budget guys are going to give you a party. We're gonna save a fortune when we stop paying your overtime!"

Anyhow, Cullen was happy he had finally seen it and had approved all the changes that he wanted to do and even promised him a secretary to help him with his paperwork. "The last thing I need is for you to have an excuse to procrastinate with your damn paperwork," were his exact words about the issue.

Anyway, the weekend was the best part of his week.

First, he met with Julia Garcia again on Saturday to talk about Parker's custody. She had drawn not one, but two contracts for them to review and change or correct as he pleased. She hoped, after whichever changes he wanted to make, at least one of them would be accepted by Rebecca during the meeting with the mediator. And it went pretty well, after two hours discussing it both contracts were ready for said meeting with the mediator.

But if that wasn't good enough, he spent his whole Sunday with Parker. After morning mass, they visited Pops for lunch and played sports in the park. Then he had returned the toy car to Parker, who had been very happy to recuperate his precious toy, and they went to the diner for milkshakes to celebrate.

So when Monday arrived Booth was in a very good mood. The good week coupled with his morning talk with Hannah and that he could give his good news about the promotions to Burns and Corby today put him in an excellent mood.

So good was his mood that it didn't falter when Cullen introduced him to Miss Evelyn Rose, a beautiful and young black girl, his new secretary, and handed him a big stack of files. "Choose one of those agents, pronto."

* * *

Cam and Booth had scheduled lunch, so when lunch time came around Cam went to the Hoover to meet with her friend. Hodgins, Angela, Brennan and Wendell, who was the squintern of the lab until Wednesday, decided to join her. Cam was pretty sure they only wanted to gossip about the agent's new girlfriend, but she had caved and just pushed Wendell into her car and told the rest to meet her at the Hoover. She didn't have the patience today to deal with Brennan and Angela. Who knew how those two were going to behave considering what she had witnessed last week and how protective the artist was of the doctor.

When they arrived Booth was in his office with Miss Rose so they had to wait for him.

"Who is that?" Hodgins asked pointing to the woman inside Booth's office. "She can't be the reporter, she isn't blonde."

"Yeah, and Hannah is in the Middle East," Wendell said absentmindedly while admiring the young woman.

"She's Booth's secretary," Payton Perotta answered, coming from behind them. "Quit drooling squint," she said to Wendell, noticing the look on his face.

"Booth has a secretary?" Hodgins asked confused; he clearly didn't know why the agent would have or even need a secretary.

"Since this morning, yes. She was already at her desk when Booth got in. Cullen came down soon after, introduced them and gave him a pile of files. Rumor says he doesn't want the boss procrastinating with the paperwork now that he's going to

delegate more and leave at normal hours. Again rumor says cutting back in the extra hours is due to certain blonde reporter, I personally think it's for Parker… Who knows? Whatever the reason, the boss got a secretary," Perotta explained to the squints.

"Why do you call Booth boss?" Brennan asked Perotta.

"Uh, Bren, he does have an office, you know. He is the boss of some of the agents here and Perotta is one of them," Angela explained as if it were obvious. She didn't notice however Cam's and Wendell's amused smiles.

"Not some, Miss Montenegro, every agent in this department reports to him," Perotta corrected her.

Hodgins, Angela, and Brennan stared at her dumbfounded, but it was Wendell who took them back to reality. "He's the Agent in Charge of the Major Crimes Department in D.C."

Seeing as they still looked confused, Cam decided to clarify it by explaining a little about the FBI structure. "The Criminal Investigative Division is divided in different departments, one of those is Major Crimes and Booth is the boss of that department here in the D.C. Field Office."

"Wait," demanded Angela, who was starting to get how good of a position Booth had in the FBI. "How high is he in the food chain exactly?"

"Hacker is in charge of the division, Goldsmith is in charge of the branch in which the division is included and Cullen is directly on top of Goldsmith," Cam told her.

"You mean between Booth… our Booth and Deputy Director Cullen there are only two other steps up the ladder," Hodgins said surprised.

"Yeah, pretty much, the Assistant Directors in charge of the offices or divisions, and the Executive Assistant Directors in charge of the branches," answered Wendell. His face told Hodgins that he was having way too much fun with his friends' surprise over Booth's post.

Hodgins, Angela and Brennan almost had to pick up their jaws from the floor to the amusement of the other three.

"C'mon guys, you've worked with him for years, you should know by now that he's not stupid," Cam said annoyed with them.

"I know that and I knew that he does more than just work with us… I just thought that he was in charge of a group of agents that investigate murders, you know… a team not a whole department," Angela defended herself.

"No wonder the guy needed a break," commented Perotta with a disapproving look directed to the squints, minus Cam and Wendell, and walked away shaking her head in disbelief.

Before anyone could talk again, Booth's office door opened and both secretary and agent went out.

"Find Shaw, Frost and Davis. Let's see if I can interview them today or tomorrow," Booth told the woman.

"Yes, sir, right away," Evelyn answered politely.

"No, not right away. Go have lunch," he ordered with an amused smile at the young woman's enthusiasm.

"But sir, I could call them, schedule an interview for this afternoon, and then leave for lunch," Evelyn argued.

"Okay, call them and then go," Booth ordered more firmly this time. "No sense in having a secretary when I'm not here."

"Yes sir," she said politely and walked to her desk, the one nearest to her boss's office to make those calls.

Booth joined the squints and noticing the shocked expressions of Angela, Hodgins and Brennan he sent a questioning look to Cam and Wendell.

"Since when are you in charge of the Major Crimes Department? And why didn't you tell me?" Brennan asked, irritated at him for not telling her.

"You knew that I was in charge of the homicide unit and had been for a while when we started our partnership, right? Well, soon after you dated Jared, Young retired and as I had the best solving rate, they gave me his post. At the time I didn't feel like sharing and then I just assumed you knew, I mean it is all over the paperwork, and we do a lot of paperwork, Bones," he answered in the same irritated tone than his partner.

"And now, mind if we go for lunch, guys? I'm hungry," Booth told the group.

Cam, knowing about the recently surfaced problems between the partners, wisely decided to not comment on it. The rest of the squints were just too confused to do anything else other than nod.

While the group walked towards the elevators, Evelyn called Booth, suddenly remembering something.

"Evelyn, it's lunch time. I'm going for lunch, and you should be doing the same, so tell me why are you running after me instead of making those calls and going for lunch?" Booth asked turning around to face the young woman.

"I took a call for you this morning, before you arrived, sir. I completely forgot it because we were going through all those files, sir," she explained smiling apologetically.

"Okay, what was the message? Did you write it down?" he asked. "And call me Booth, Evelyn."

"No, sir, I didn't write it down, but I remember it," she answered. When Booth made a wave with his hand indicating she should continue, she did so. "Alex Foster called to say: you're welcome and sorry for taking so long answering your call."

Alex's call put a goofy smile on Booth's face. He thanked his secretary, told her once more to stop calling him sir and ushered the squints out for lunch hoping against hope they would let that particular topic slide.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think. :D  
**

* * *

**Julianne: **Thank you so much for your review. I'm very glad that you're enjoying my story. :)**  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

**The Couple In The Cave And The Reporter In The City**

**Timeline:** October, 2010; Second week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** 6x02- "The Couple in the Cave"

**Note/warnings:** In this chapter you will see some tension between Booth and Brennan. Their friendship will heal, but you must remember that it will take time.

Also Hannah arrives to D.C. (Booth/Hannah pairing).

* * *

Wednesday arrived that week with a different squintern, Dr. Clark Edison, and a double homicide. Booth wasn't particularly pleased with either of those facts. He liked Clark, but he liked Wendell a lot more. And he and Brennan had yet to solve their argument so they were still more than a little tense around each other.

The tension was palpable to everyone, including the squints. They were all feeling it to the point that not even Angela had tried to get out of him the gossip she wanted during lunch on Monday. She had just apologized for underestimating him and not knowing what his job really was after all this time, something to which Hodgins had joined in with his own apology, and then they had asked about the job itself showing interest in what he did. He hadn't been all that angry at them to begin with so their apology and interest had been more than enough to seal the wound. Brennan was a different matter, though. She had apologized for underestimating, quoting her, his position in the hierarchy of the FBI, and he had forgiven her too. But the problem with Brennan was that the wounds were a lot deeper than that. This was a surface wound, a scratch, one of many. The real wound laid beneath those and it had nothing to do with all those times they had hurt each other a little, cutting each other's skin and leaving those scratches over the years. No, the real one was created by a simple fact that came to Booth's attention almost a year ago when she rejected him, and it grew deeper and wider with every step she took running away from him. It came from the realization that even if she trusted him with her life, she didn't trust him with her heart.

All the hurt turned into anger and with it a lot of issues were surfacing, and his patience with her was MIA. To that you had to add Brennan's mood swings: one moment she was normal and the next she was verbally attacking him, one minute she was the rational scientist and the next he felt like he was arguing with a jealous ex. So many emotions mixed together were building the tension between them up to dangerous levels. They were professionals and they were keeping up with the job like adults but that didn't make the people around them immune to those dark feelings. Sooner or later someone was going to start asking questions, and he was reasonably sure it was going to be certain artist.

The first indicator that Angela had held her questions and her opinion for as long as she could was the pointed look she gave Hodgins when Booth offered to take him to the crime scene so he could gather his own samples too. Under such a murderous glare, the Bug Man had rejected the offer with a lame "Dr. B can do it."

He couldn't know what the intentions of the artist were. She could be angry at him for moving on or she could have hope that the partners would find a way to reconcile with each other and mend their relationship. Yet he wasn't going to get into an argument with Angela, even if he suspected that the former prompted the glare.

However, if Angela's intention was to give the partners privacy to repair their friendship, it didn't work. Far from it, in the short walk from the spot where he parked his SUV to the cave where the victims were found they managed to get into another of those veiled arguments now so common between them.

Just like the conversation slash argument they had soon after they came back about the consequences of their trips, especially her trip, for which she claimed being the linchpin of the group. Then she had still debated between staying and going back to Maluku and it had ended with him telling her that it wasn't easy to be the linchpin of the group in a tone that showed he was upset with her.

On this occasion, she had decided to question his feelings for Hannah because he hadn't brought her with him. He had actively ignored her or answered her remarks with sarcastic comments, right up until she asked, "How could you be so sure you love Hannah if you could leave her in Afghanistan?"

They had been back at the car, loading her equipment back into the truck and his answer this time had been more forceful and his actions had made it clear he wasn't happy with her attitude. "I left her there 'cause I ran out of room in my duffle bag. Now get in the car. You wanted lunch at the diner and I have a ton of things to do."

They didn't say a word during the drive back. Whether it was the silence, his words or his actions she understood she had crossed some kind of line, because when they went back to the topic during lunch, she apologized for bringing it up. He accepted her apology by explaining his reasoning for leaving her in Afghanistan. Hannah was happy with the action, he wanted to return, and he respected her desire and need to stay.

Seconds later he saw Hannah crossing the street and walking inside the diner. They kissed, and she told him that she had requested a transfer to the Washington Press Corps to be with him. He had been on cloud nine since then, even with the very awkward introduction of the women to each other.

"Hello. I'm Temperance Brennan." She interrupted the couple's kiss.

"Ah, I've heard a lot about you. Hannah Burley," without leaving Booth's embrace she introduced herself and the women shook hands.

"I assumed." The anthropologist was obviously feeling like the third wheel in the lover's encounter, and making Booth feel observed during what he perceived as a private moment. The situation was terrible, awkward, and uncomfortable for everyone.

Hannah was still in Booth's arms, when she remembered something important. "How are your ribs, Seeley? Feeling better, I suppose?"

"Yeah, almost perfect," the agent answered still feeling uncomfortable and looking alternatively to both women. From Brennan's face he could predict that this would lead to more problems.

"Almost perfect is not perfect, Booth. Should you be working? Should you have gone hiking for the remains?"

"I'm fine, Bones. I've been cleared by the FBI doctor and I've passed my physicals. I'm perfectly capable of going for a half an hour hike," Booth answered exasperated. She hadn't bothered contacting him while he was in Afghanistan and now she was worried about a thirty minutes hike with sore ribs.

Thankfully the conversation ended there as they needed to return to work. So Booth drove Brennan to the Jeffersonian, and then returned to the Hoover with Hannah in his arms. They still needed some extra minutes together. They wanted to enjoy their closeness a little longer. Sadly, soon after, she was gone.

Booth then had the opportunity to talk with Ranger Gary Nesbitt who brought a suspect's file for him. But his secretary's return from her lunch prevented him from reading it at the moment.

She told him it was time for the last of the three candidates' interviews. After it he would have to choose one of the three for the position of secondary liaison with the Jeffersonian. He picked out three junior agents from a big pile of files Cullen gave him: Shaw, Frost, and Davis. So far he had interviewed Frost and Davis on Monday afternoon, and discarded Frost for being too arrogant. So he had to decide between Davis and Shaw, and Shaw's interview was going to be now because a case had delayed it.

Genevieve Shaw had two degrees: one in criminal justice, and another one in psychology; she had been the second one of her promotion in Quantico, just behind Frost, and she had been a year working in the bureau with very good results. Plus, she came from a working class family and her father was a fireman, so he expected her to know how the world worked, and if that wasn't enough, she had a baby, a little boy of only two with no known father. She was a single mom with a great file which in Booth's book said a lot about her character. In fact, she had been his first option when he saw the files, followed by Davis and finally Frost. Even if Davis had been behind the other two in academic knowledge his record in the bureau was better than Frost's, and Booth valued more the field than the books.

Evelyn knocked on his door to remind him of the interview and inform him that Shaw was ready for it. "Sir, Agent Shaw is here for her interview. And Dr. Sweets came while you were at the crime scene. He gave me a schedule with five sessions for your reactivation review, sir."

"The first one is tomorrow morning, right?" Booth asked her and Evelyn nodded. "Good. Call him and confirm that one, reject anyone that is out of office time or affects my meetings with my lawyer or Rebecca, and tell him that the rest will be confirmed in due time."

"Yes, sir. Parker and murder trump the shrink," Evelyn nodded her understanding and was rewarded with a smile.

"Thanks, Evelyn. Let Shaw in," he told her, still smiling at his very efficient secretary. "And don't call me sir."

"Sir," Agent Shaw greeted him entering his office all serious and business like. Booth couldn't avoid noticing that she seemed nervous but also excited at the prospect of working with him or the Jeffersonian or both.

"Come in, Shaw; close the door and sit down. I've read your file and your supervisor gave you very good recommendations. John talks highly of you… so I just want to know you a little better; ask you some questions, okay?" he explained trying to get her a little more relaxed.

All in all, it was a pretty good interview. She was a little intimidated by him, but considering that he was numerous steps over her position it was understandable. It was obvious that she had studied the cases he had worked with the Jeffersonian, and seemed to know quite a bit about the squints; she had prepared for the job as best as she could with the files available to her. She was dedicated and her enthusiasm decided things for him.

"Well, Shaw, you're in," Booth told the young agent who smiled brightly at the good news. "You'll do some desk work during this case and once it's solved, I'll introduce you to the squints and you'll start going out into the field with me."

"Thank you, sir. I'd be honored to work with you, sir," Shaw answered smiling, notably pleased to get the job.

"Evelyn will show you to your desk and give you anything you need tomorrow morning. Now go home," Booth ordered and stood up to open the door for her. "And, Shaw, call me Booth, please."

After another "yes, sir" she left the office feeling really proud of herself.

Booth told Evelyn that Agent Shaw was staying and starting tomorrow morning so she probably would need her help to get a handle of the department; Evelyn had been surprisingly fast in doing so. Finally, he ordered her to call Cullen to inform him of it and then go home; he was leaving for the day too.

And he did so, smiling happily thinking about the woman waiting for him at home. He would never have guessed that Hannah was going to follow him to D.C. and leave behind the action she loved so much. He had expected their relationship to die due to distance and he could admit he had doubted the strength of her feelings for him.

Maybe he had been wrong. They had some pending issues to be tangled, but at least now he felt more optimistic about their relationship. He could enjoy what they have at the moment, and after the case was solved, he would take her out for dinner and talk to her about those important issues, which basically meant Parker. He would proceed from there, and they would make decisions then. She deserved to know what she was getting into and have the opportunity to decide if she really wanted it; and he deserved and needed to know where she stood in certain matters before getting any deeper into it than he was. But until then, he was just going to think about the fact that she had chosen him over the job she loved so much and enjoy their romance.

He would have to wait and see what the future brought them. Maybe they could make it, maybe his love wasn't unrequited this time, and they could feed it, cherish it, and make it grow. He wasn't one hundred percent sure of it, but he had hope, and for now hope was enough to put a smile on his face.

* * *

At the lab, the bodies arrived soon after Brennan came back from lunch with Booth. While the bodies were being prepared for the examination, she informed them of the arrival of Hannah.

Brennan talking about Booth and his new relationship with the reporter gave Angela the opening she had been waiting for since their return. At first, Brennan had ignored Angela and rejected any attempt she made to talk about it and she had let her be. But after the incident in the Hoover on Monday, Angela became more than curious about the issues between the partners, and the increasing tension that now surrounded them hadn't help matters. Angela was starting to worry that Booth maybe was really moving on from Brennan which would leave her friend Booth-less and in her opinion love-less. She was really worried about Brennan and her happiness, but to help her she needed information. Fortunately, she was a master in getting information, especially the juicy and romantic kind. She wasn't the gossip queen of the Jeffersonian for no reason.

But Cam beat her to it. "So, what was it like to meet Hannah?"

"Oh, she seems... very pleasant … and ... attractive. Her face fits comfortably within the golden ratio," Brennan answered in her matter-of-fact voice, as if she had no feelings in the matter.

"So you guys did math together?" Hodgins said, sharing a knowing look with Angela. He also thought that Brennan was feeling jealous and probably hurt too but that she refused to admit it to them and probably to herself too.

"No, the golden ratio is a formula that determines beauty," Brennan corrected in her lecture voice, the same she used when teaching her students. "One to 1.618. For instance, the width of the mouth to the width of the cheek..."

"So, she's hot," Angela cut her off. She didn't want her friend to launch into a long explanation of the human body proportions that were considered desirable and the anthropological reason behind it. She wanted to talk about feelings, not to help her rationalize them.

Clark chose that moment to interrupt her interrogation by bringing up the case again. "I see some, uh, particulates here, Dr. Hodgins. You know if we still care about finding out what happened to these poor people."

But Angela was not to be deterred, and pressed the issue. "I just assumed that when you guys got back from your trip, you'd be a real couple."

Hearing those words coming from the artist, Cam snorted in disbelief and shook her head for emphasis. Did the woman know anything about real relationships and life? Did she really expected Booth to keep waiting for Brennan to stop running the rest of his life? Did she think this last running away episode would make the guy feel loved instead of rejected?

Angela noticed the actions of the coroner and decided that she was the person with the information she needed. If she wanted to know the whole truth and understand what the hell happened to bring this on she would need to talk with Cam. She didn't understand why Cam found her comment so stupid but she would get her answers later when she could talk with the coroner in private.

"We were never a couple," argued Brennan.

"Dr. Saroyan, you assured me that you would try to keep this workplace professional," Clark said trying to bring them back to the case.

"And I will, Dr. Edison," Cam assured the annoyingly professional squintern of the week.

"No, no, no. You were a couple. You just weren't having sex." And again, Angela refused to be diverted from the topic she wanted to discuss. "Were you jealous?"

"Of course not. I'm happy for Booth. Why would I be jealous?" Brennan answered with her best clueless voice and act.

"Because it's obvious you and Agent Booth were attracted to each other.

I mean, a blind man could see that. I just couldn't understand why you two just didn't rip each other's clothes off. I mean, just get all butt-naked and..." Clark suddenly snapped unable to keep the very obvious answer for himself. "Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. Uh... I'm… I'm sorry… Uh, I... It just popped out, okay? You guys weren't focusing."

They were all very amused with Clark's outburst but the only one capable of saying something and not burst out laughing was Hodgins. "Dude, a little self-control?"

* * *

It wasn't until the end of the day that Angela finally got the opportunity to corner Cam and ask the questions she had about Booth and his new relationship.

"Can we talk a moment, Cam?" Angela asked the coroner entering in the autopsy room and closing the door behind her to guarantee their privacy.

Cam studied the artist for a moment. She was positive that Angela wanted to talk about what she perceived to be a love triangle. She was tempted to just say no and dismiss her and what she was sure was going to be the initial stages of a campaign in favor of Brennan and against Hannah. But the genuine concern in her eyes changed her mind, and she nodded and pointed to the other chair in her office.

Angela sat down and started to speak. "So, what happened? After that goodbye in the airport I really thought they would come back to be together. Something happened and you know what… and I'm really worried about Bren so please explain to me why it is that them being together seems so stupid to you."

"Okay, I'll explain what I know, but I won't break Booth's confidence, got it?" Cam told the artist using her boss' voice to get the point across. Angela nodded accepting the compromise and Cam continued. "What do you know about the whole going to Maluku and Afghanistan thing they pulled on us?"

"Well, something had been wrong for a while… I thought Booth was angry because Bren was dating his boss and Bren was jealous of Dr. Bryar… but at the same time, I felt that there was something else," Angela answered, "and now it's painfully obvious something did happen."

Cam nodded sharply and after some silent seconds she finally answered Angela's question. "She rejected him. He wanted to move forward with their relationship and she rejected him."

"He really did finally ask her for a relationship, an honest to God relationship and she said no," Angela processed the information out loud. "When did that happen? And please tell me that it wasn't before she started dating Hacker the second time around… Booth was angry about it the first time… I explained to her how wrong and stupid it was to date Hacker the first time and then, the second time, I reminded her that it was a very bad idea and told her not to do it."

"It was just days before Brennan's high school reunion," Cam answered, letting her annoyance with the anthropologist show. As an anthropologist it was impossible, simply impossible for Brennan to be ignorant of the fact that dating a guy's boss just after the guy declared his feelings for her, was humiliating and a very low blow for said guy.

"You think that she did it on purpose!" Angela exclaimed wanting to defend her friend, but at the same time she wasn't very forceful, probably because a part of her was in agreement with the coroner.

"C'mon, Angela, if she didn't know dating Hacker was like kicking Booth in the nuts, then she should return her anthropology degree!" Cam exploded letting the other woman see her anger. But she then took a deep, calming breath and continued talking. "Look, she didn't want to be involved in a serious and real relationship, and that was her prerogative. And she obviously needed to distance herself emotionally from Booth, just like Booth needed that distance too, and that is respectable too. But the way she chose to do it, dating Hacker… that was plain and simply wrong, at least in my book."

Angela nodded, agreeing with the coroner. "Things changed when she rejected him. There was a small distance between them, and she didn't like those changes or the distance. But she needed the distance to compartmentalize her feelings for Booth and break the connection, so she forced it by dating Hacker. And she trapped herself in there: there wasn't enough distance to do so, but there was too much for her liking; she felt alone and couldn't cope with Taffet's trial and her fear over Booth's safety, not with the amount of distance between them, but she was still too close to him to compartmentalize her feelings. In the end, it was all too much, and she ran away to Maluku hoping it would allow her to compartmentalize everything."

"You're probably right," Cam told her honestly. She really believed the artist was correct with her assessment of the situation but suspected Angela was going to find a way to make it into an argument in favor of getting the partners together.

"But that means that she loved him too much to compartmentalize him," the artist said making good of Cam's prediction, "Booth should have known that and done something about it."

"Yet she didn't love him enough to fight her fears for him," Cam said sharply. She was not in the mood to deal with Angela's Hollywood way of seeing love, relationships and life. "There's only so long you can run away from someone and hurt him in the process, because it's impossible to not hurt that person while you're at it, before said person just stops running after you. You stopped running in time. She didn't. Plain and simple, Angela," the coroner said a little frustrated with the artist.

Angela felt chastised by her boss and friend, but she had to acknowledge the truth of her statement. Still she couldn't let the argument go yet, if only for Brennan's sake she had to try one more thing. "But are you sure that he has moved on because only seven months seem too soon to me."

"You mean to say seven months in the middle of a war zone seeing people die, and by people I mean civilians of all kind, kids included; his comrades; his subordinates; his friends: seeing them die or get injured, risking his own life, every single day… that's _only_ and _too soon_ for you. She didn't contact him in all that time, didn't even answer his emails, didn't support him in the sightless when he was out there, yet you define that time as _only_ and _too soon_. I guess seven months in a five stars hotel in the middle of Paris is a short time," Cam answered angrily. She really couldn't stand more of this argument. "Let me get this straight now so that we can stop this bullshit," Cam said standing up and walking to the door of her office ready to close the argument.

"Booth is no longer in love with Brennan. He will always love her in some way, like he will love Rebecca, but he's no longer in love with either of them. He opened himself to Brennan and she abandoned him, he's not making that mistake again," she continued and used her perfectly manicured fingers to count her statements. "She dug her own grave and if she doesn't like it it's her problem; and Booth deserves to be happy with whoever he pleases. You don't get a vote. So leave it alone."

That said, she opened her door and motioned Angela to precede her out of the office. She finally closed the door hoping that it would be the end of her conversation with the artist.

"You're right," Angela said, clearly ashamed of her comment. "Dismissing his time there or his feelings like that was inconsiderate and cruel," she continued. "He's my friend too and I want him happy, and if he has really moved on and is happy, I'll support him."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to the guy that doesn't come here more than needed because he's sure he wouldn't be welcome… at least not by you and by extension your husband," the coroner told her.

Angela nodded, smiling sadly at her boss. "I will, tomorrow, promise. I'm just sad for Bren."

Cam understood the other woman. She was worried about her friend, which considering Doctor Brennan's personality was perfectly reasonable. The woman was her worst enemy when it came to finding her own happiness. And there was nothing they could do for her; Angela couldn't help her to find happiness. Sad as it was, Brennan was on her own on this one.

So Cam looked sympathetically at the artist and said one last thing before leaving the lab for the night. "I'm sad for her too, but it's her life to live, Angela."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think.**

**A/N: **I know some of you probably think that Cam was too harsh with Angela and Brennan but Cam is a very direct person who can be harsh to drive the point across. Also she's loyal to Booth and privy to how hard his time in Afghanistan and the end of his romantic aspirations with Brennan were for him so it makes sense that she would defend him fiercely.

* * *

**Julianne:** Thank you so much for your review. I too feel like the writers of the show often forget that they gave Booth expensive training, both military and as an FBI agent, and that he was only supposed to hid it to catch the bad guy unprepared. I don't like that, so I won't forget it, and I'll keep showing you certain details of his job. Hope you liked the new chapter :)


	6. Chapter 5

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

** The couple in the cave and the squints in the love-lab **

**Timeline:** October, 2010; Second week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** 6x02- "The Couple in the Cave"

**Note/warnings:** In this chapter you will see some tension between Booth and Brennan. Their friendship will heal, but you must remember that it will take time.

Also Hannah is in D.C. (Booth/Hannah pairing).

* * *

The next morning, Angela went straight to Cam's office. The previous night she had a long conversation about a long list of recent events with Hodgins and she had reached some conclusions. One of them being that she didn't owe an apology only to Booth. She, or better yet, they both owned an apology to Cam.

"Can I come in, Cam?" she asked her boss who was currently doing some paperwork at her desk. Cam nodded and Angela entered the office, closed the door, and sat down in the other chair just like the night before.

"I'll leave early today, or maybe take a long lunch, or… I'll go to the Hoover to talk to Booth later so… just wanted to let you know I'll be leaving the lab at some point today to do just that," Angela informed her boss and Cam nodded giving her permission to the artist. She even smiled at her to show her approval. "I've been thinking last night and I came to the conclusion that Hodgins and I own you an apology, Cam. We needed a break, but we could have taken a month or two, even three… you know a long vacation. We didn't need a yearlong sabbatical. If we had stopped to think about it for more than a second we would have known the repercussions it would have on the lab and the people here. You were going to have a hard time already and we made it harder," the artist said honestly.

"Apology accepted," Cam said with a smile.

"Good, but we thought dinner would be a good peace offering… so this Friday the four of us… double date, ok? I'm dying to meet Paul," Angela said with a smile.

"Sounds good, but it'll have to be Saturday, Paul and I are having dinner with Booth on Friday," Cam answered.

"Maybe we could make it a triple date," Angela suggested and Cam smiled at her approvingly. "Okay, I'll tell him when I talk to him today."

Angela stood up and walked to the door; it finally looked like she was going to leave but she stopped short and turned around to face the other woman. "I'm a little worried about Booth… uhm… Hannah seems nice but…"

"A nomad," Cam finished the sentence for her, "that's what Booth calls it. He knows and he's going to talk to her after this case is solved, before he gets into it too deep."

Angela signed relieved. "Good… So who is Alex Foster? I saw his smile. So is she blond and leggy, or brunette…a lawyer maybe?" she asked, changing her attitude completely and going straight to the gossip she loved so much.

"Ask him yourself," Cam answered with a knowing smile.

"That good?" Angela asked smirking really interested in that piece of gossip.

"I'd bet with a pair of my Manolo's that he'll be dating her in less than a month," the coroner answered.

Angela squealed a little, happy for the agent, and then left the office ready to work.

* * *

After a very long Wednesday in which the new case, the tension between Brennan and him, and Sweet's trying to give him advice about his relationship with Hannah had stressed him, Booth went home feeling happy and hopeful due to Hannah's presence in his life.

His calmness was very short lived, though. To a long and stressful Wednesday followed an equally long, stressful, and frustrating Thursday.

It started with his first session with Sweets for his reinstatement evaluation. Then, the shrink annoyed the hell out of him during the ride to talk to Winston Hinkle, a suspect with a mental illness who was released from prison shortly before the murder. Hannah called him and Sweets used the opportunity to get his nose into his business. So Booth told him to back off, that he was over Brennan, and he no longer wanted to share his life with her, and that he loved Hannah.

Sadly, the day didn't end there. After their visit to Hinkle, Brennan, Hannah and Booth had lunch at the Founding Fathers, resulting in a very awkward conversation about Afghan insurgents and fig trees.

And if that wasn't enough, while the squints did their squinting that afternoon, he was buried in paperwork and a meeting with Cullen who wanted to know more about his choice for the secondary liaison with the Jeffersonian.

When he finally arrived home, he was tired, stressed, and annoyed, and Hannah was not there because she had to work during the night. The only positive thing of the day was that while he was with Cullen he avoided Angela, who surely had visited to grill him about Hannah and blame him for global warming.

The worst part was Friday didn't start any better.

His day started with a meeting with Hacker, something that always made him angry. The guy was, in his opinion, a paper pushing bureaucrat with no field experience whatsoever, a politician hidden in an FBI suit. And he was way too feminine, and his mannerisms extremely annoyed him, especially when he was already stressed.

After his meeting with Hacker, he was too annoyed to work so he decided on an early lunch and with his bad luck Sweets and Brennan joined him in the diner.

Things got even worse when Sweets and Brennan decided that it was impossible for the two victims to be in love because they came from different backgrounds. He agreed with them in one thing: they needed something in common. It was difficult for them to meet, but once they met, falling in love or not had nothing to do with their backgrounds. Not that they wanted to listen to his opinion. Brennan decided he just has a stupid belief in the power of love and proceeded to explain why the victims, like them, were anthropological anomalies; dismissing both the love between the victims and his feelings for her in one move. But it wasn't enough, no; she had to say that they weren't able to solve their differences and insinuate that said differences were the reason for them not being involved. After that, he just had enough. He told her the reason they didn't solve their differences was because she didn't even wanted to try. Then, he paid his bill and left.

Fortunately for him, his very short lunch left him with time to meet Hannah for some fun in the middle of the day. Everyone knows sex is the best way to relax and blow off steam, followed by hitting the bag or someone else.

Feeling more relaxed, or at least less stressed, he went to AA to find the identity of the male victim. Then, he had Shaw investigate his girlfriend, Lupe Rojas, and he interviewed her. But he did it alone. He just wasn't in the mood to deal with Brennan. He was no longer stressed but he was by no means relaxed enough for that.

By the time he finally met the squints that afternoon, they already knew the couple wasn't beaten to death, but they fell or were pushed off a cliff. They knew where it happened and, even that Lupe's car had been in the park near the area where Felix and Hillary died. They were ready to conduct an experiment with Lupe; her allergies were her alibi so they needed to corroborate that she indeed had allergies.

Only a short while later, Lupe's allergies scratched her out of the suspects list and Cam informed him that Felix was attacked with pepper spray, the strong kind issued to the forest Rangers.

Booth called Shaw and had her check Ranger Nesbitt again to find a connection, and then decided to wait for her call in the lab's lounge having a cup of coffee.

Angela chose that moment to approach him. "Booth, can we talk?"

"Depends. Are you going to blame me for global warming?" he asked curtly.

"No, in fact I'd like to apologize to you," Angela answered surprising the agent, who let it show and gave her a questioning look. "I wasn't fair to you. I was hostile to you because I felt that you left Bren behind by moving on, but Cam set me straight, believe me. And don't worry, she didn't break your confidence, just gave me the headlines."

"It's ok, Angela, she's your friend. You worry about her," Booth said accepting her apology.

"You're my friend too, Booth, and I dismissed and underestimated your feelings in favor of hers. I shouldn't have done it, and I don't want you to feel unwelcome here because of me," she kept going.

"Apology accepted, Angela," he answered, smiling brightly at her. He only wanted to know that they understood and respected his decisions, and that he was still welcome in their circle.

"Still, Hodgins and I are going to treat Cam and Paul to dinner tonight, and we thought maybe Hannah and you would like to come too. Our treat, of course," Angela told him. It was obviously a peace offering and he accepted with a smile, happy to know the Hodgins' still considered him a friend.

"That done, think you have five more minutes before your phone rings to tell me about Alex Foster?" she asked in a suggestive voice. "Cam is betting a pair of Manolo's… those are…"

"Shoes," Booth finished for her.

"How do you know that?" Angela asked astonished. "A tough guy like you doesn't know about those things."

"Cam loves shoes… expensive shoes… I guessed," he admitted and was thankfully saved from answering the artist by his phone.

On the other end of the line was Shaw who told him that Ranger Nesbitt's niece was the underage driver who died when Felix gave her alcohol. And Angela seeing him busy talking on the phone, left him to his job and went to find Brennan to invite her to dinner too.

After his brief conversation with Agent Shaw, he went to find Brennan so that they could both go to arrest the Ranger. He found her talking with Angela so he waited a few seconds, and when the artist left the office looking slightly upset he correctly guessed that Brennan had rejected her offer to join them for dinner. Still he decided to say nothing and not get involved, and just motioned Brennan to follow him.

The partners arrived to the park a short while later and Nesbitt confessed with very little prompting. So with the murderer arrested and in custody at the Hoover, Booth and Brennan went for a post-case drink before his dinner date with the other two couples.

The celebration was friendly but still tense and awkward due to the unresolved arguments that were piling up and threatened to bury them.

Brennan didn't understand why Felix didn't leave Hillary, and when Booth tried to explain it, they ended again in one of those arguments about the existence or not of love. Booth didn't have any more patience left after the long week and so many years of arguing the same thing to keep doing it, so he told her that he was going to explain to her how he saw love and then the discussion would be closed. She could agree or disagree with him, but he wasn't going to have this debate again.

"Love and relationships are like potted plants," he started talking. "Don't interrupt me, Bones. I'm trying to make an analogy, a metaphor or whatever it's called," he said raising his hand to stop her from arguing. He could see that she was more than ready to question him; to tell him that there was no way to compare plants with brain chemistry. "As I was saying, imagine you have a potted plant, okay? But it's a special kind, it only grows if two people take care of it, if one or both of them ignore the plant, and don't water it or renew the soil… if they don't care for the plant together it dies. But if they do, if they take care of it together, then it grows and even gives flowers. Well, the plant is the love, and the flowers are the relationship, and as long as you ignore the plant and refuse to care for it, all your relationships will be fleeting and love would seem ephemeral to you. Like us, you didn't want our relationship to flourish so you hid the plant in a closet, I couldn't take care of it on my own, and it eventually died," he told her with finality, convinced of the veracity of his words. "Love is not ephemeral, Bones, unless you force it to be. It is delicate and it needs to be cherished."

He then stood up seeing Hannah entering the bar, and the couple left to meet with the other two couples for dinner.

* * *

When Hannah and Booth arrived to the restaurant, an expensive looking Italian, Cam, Paul and the Hodgins' were already there. But having just arrived and seeing the last couple entering the restaurant, Hodgins told the waitress to wait on their drink orders a moment to give to the newcomers some time to decide.

The couple sat down and took the menus. Something off it caught Booth's attention, and he let the others know. "Vegetarian menu, vegan menu… this is an Italian restaurant… where's the normal people menu?"

Angela laughed softly at him, and the others grinned amused with his attitude. "I invited Bren too, but she wouldn't come, said she had a lot of work to do. This place offers different menus for different diets, but don't worry the normal one, as you called it, is the last one… I think that the owner agrees with you. They call it menu only," Angela explained smiling at the agent.

"A wise guy," Booth told her smirking, and the other two guys agreed with him wholeheartedly.

"Guys and meat, you can't really separate them, right?" joked Angela.

"Well, if I have to choose between Booth's lasagna and a salad, I choose the lasagna, no questions asked," Cam argued.

"Seeley cooks?" Hannah asked surprised, "with the amount of take-out we've eaten this week I assumed that he didn't know how."

"Booth is a really good cook, but this has been a stressful week for him, so he probably wasn't in the mood," the coroner told her, and Booth blushed at the compliment.

"Oh, you should cook for me," Hannah said in a suggestive voice.

Angela couldn't resist joining in and spoke with her flirty voice. "Yes, he should, a hot guy like him cooking… exquisite."

Booth blushed furiously, hung his head down, and even groaned in embarrassment at Angela's comment, and the rest burst out laughing at him. Well, except for Hodgins, who whined miserably. "Hey, your husband is over here, at this table and by your side." Fortunately for both of them, they were saved, Booth from further embarrassment and Hodgins from his wife's wrath, by the waitress who chose that moment to take their orders.

When the waitress finally went on her merry way, everyone minus Angela had their glasses full of wine. Obviously, this got everyone's attention and they stared at her in surprise, very happy surprise, except for Hodgins who looked at her with that stupidly happy grin he had been sporting since she discovered her pregnancy.

When Angela nodded confirming their suspicions, Booth stood up to hug the artist and shake Hodgins' hand congratulating them. While the others congratulated the couple, Hannah also studied Booth carefully. She got the nagging suspicion that kids and having more kids of his own was one of those things he wanted to talk about during their dinner tomorrow before they got into it more deeply. She suspected he wasn't going to like her answer.

After the congratulations were done with, Booth got a little package from one of the pockets of his jacket. "I landed in Berlin with a military plane, but I got to take a civilian one from there to D.C. so I ended up wandering around the airport for more than an hour. I found this… Don't ask what it was doing in Berlin, but I saw it and I thought it would come in handy at some point. I was thinking in hinting something today, maybe tease you a little… you know, _you spent seven months in Paris and didn't think of bringing a baby_," he explained, saying the last part with a funny voice. "But I guess my plans are a little useless now." He finally gave the package to Angela.

Angela opened the gift and found one of those plastic chains designed to tie the baby's pacifier to the onesies, the safety pin had a tiny Eiffel Towel on it. "Oh, Booth, it's beautiful. Thank you," the artist said and stood up to hug the agent again.

"Yeah, thanks man, this is really cool, our first baby thing," Hodgins told the agent with a huge smile.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it," Booth answered. "Just don't buy too many baby things. Keep it simple, guys. You only need some basic things. The rest you won't use, and the simpler they are the better. If something is too complicated, you'd probably hate it in a week."

"Listen to the wise," Paul told them, "most of the first time moms buy these cool, magic carriers that are supposed to be the latest model and the best carrier ever, but they end up using ones that look exactly like the ones our mothers used for us, just more colorful… it's gotta be for something."

"Because you need things that are practical, and those carriers aren't. Believe me, Rebecca bought one of those. I used it one day and then got a simple one. She asked for mine less than a week later," Booth explained.

That was the moment the waitress chose to bring their orders, effectively interrupting their conversation and allowing Cam to bring up something she had been meaning to ask for almost a week now.

"Booth, do you know anything about my study about brain damage not being stonewalled anymore?" the coroner asked her friend. Soon after the return of the team, Booth asked her for a copy of her article and all her documentation to look at, and soon after she received a call from a medical magazine wanting to publish it and from CNB to repeat the interview, this time really talking about her article. Since then she had suspected that Booth had done something, maybe pulled some strings, but due to the cases and the changes in his life she had yet to ask him.

"I may have talked about it over breakfast with Jack," Booth told her sheepishly. "He liked it; thought it was good and had a lot of merit."

"Wait, Dude, you talk with your friend Jack, and suddenly Cam is no longer stonewalled… what the hell? Who is your friend? Does he own a TV studio, a paper? Is he a politician? I'm smelling conspiracy here, man," Hodgins jumped immediately to it.

"Jack, there's no conspiracy. He pulled a string," Angela told him smirking at his antics.

"And he's not anything you said, Hodgins. Jack is an old friend of Booth's from his time in the military. He's a general," Cam answered him. "He works at the Pentagon now, right Booth?"

Booth nodded confirming Cam's statement and the rest looked at him shocked. "Wait, you know a general in the Pentagon?" Hodgins asked, still wearing his I'm-smelling-a-conspiracy face.

"How the hell do you think I got to go AWOL to see Bones at the airport without repercussions or how I got a special contract so I could leave the Army and come back if the FBI called me? Cullen pushed for it, but it probably wouldn't have been approved if Jack wouldn't have talked to Colonel Pelant," Booth answered.

"Wow, you know a guy in the Pentagon worried enough about brain damage in veterans to push to get her article published… I have to meet and interview him," Hannah said excited about the idea.

"No, Jack's my friend; not someone for you to interview," Booth told her simply and with finality.

Hannah's face fell and she nodded feeling chastised. Seeing this, the agent decided to lighten the mood a little. "Plus he won't really answer your questions anyway."

"You sure? I can be very persuasive," she said suggestively. "A guy like him can't have a lot of fun, if you get my drift, and a beautiful woman paying him attention could get a lot of answers."

"Sorry, baby, but Jack's happily married, and I'm sure that he thinks that you have nothing on his wife," Booth told her smiling, yet his face was telling her to let it go. Hannah finally got the message and let the idea of interviewing Jack go.

"Anyway, how is Michelle doing, Cam?" Booth asked, effectively diverting the conversation to something else.

The rest of the night was very pleasant. The three couples ate, talked, laughed, and then talked some more before it got too late for everyone and they decided to leave. They all parted ways relaxed and happy after an enjoyable evening with friends.

Hannah and Booth went to Booth's apartment for the night. They needed to enjoy the night as much as possible because Booth had the first meeting with the mediator about Parker in the morning. Hannah would leave for work soon after him that morning too and they had agreed to talk during dinner. After that no one knew what was going to happen so they both wanted to savor their relationship now.

* * *

Booth, Rebecca, their lawyers, and the mediator met early Saturday morning in Julia Garcia's office to negotiate the custody agreement.

The mediator, Miss Baker, was the first to talk. "Good morning to everyone, I'm Stephanie Baker, the mediator appointed by the court for this. I'm sure we all know how this works, but in case there are doubts, I'm going to explain it. We will negotiate as long as you need to reach an agreement, but if you're unable to do so you could decide to go to court. In that case, I will give a recommendation to the judge based on what I see here."

Julia gave a copy of the first contract to Rebecca's lawyer. "This is our offer, Miss Stinson, Mr. Moore. It stabilizes half custody for each parent and equal rights over Parker, and of course the prohibition of any of the parents to take Parker out of the state/country for more than a month without authorization. This means neither of you would be allowed to move out of the state/country and take Parker with you. If either of you decided to move out of the state/country, he or she would have to do it without Parker. You would revert then to primary and secondary custodies, being the secondary the one leaving the state. Your rights in that case are specified there too. Miss Baker has already read it, so I suggest you read it carefully too. We can take a recess for that effect if you want," Julia said in a firm and business like way.

"You want half custody?" Rebecca asked in astonishment, "you really plan on taking care of Parker half of the time with your job?"

"Yes, Rebecca, I do. In fact I've already talked to Cullen about it, and changes have been made to allow me to do it," Booth answered confidently. He was doing everything he had to do to be able to share Parker's custody equally with her. "You work long hours too, and you have a babysitter and he's involved in various afternoon activities. It's pretty logical that if you can do it, then I can too. I just want to share 50/50 the responsibilities and the happiness that comes with him. I see nothing wrong there."

"What if you decide to go back to the Army again? Or if they promote you and transfer you to some other place?" Rebecca asked annoyed with her ex-boyfriend.

"I'm not going back to the Army, but even if I went you would become the primary custodian until I come back, then we would go back to what this contract says. Same goes for transfers for either of us. If you or I get transferred out of the state, unless we change the agreement, the one staying here gets Parker's primary custody and the other one secondary: you know, every other weekend, vacations… But it's a moot point, Rebecca. I'm not leaving. It won't be the first time I reject a promotion out of the state to stay with Parker," Booth answered calmly.

"And what about Hannah, eh? Does she want a kid half of the time with you?" Rebecca asked heatedly.

"If she has a problem with me being a father then my relationship with her has no future."

"You mean that if she isn't happy with this agreement, you'll break up with her?" she asked stunned.

"Yes, in fact I plan to talk with her about this tonight. Of course I plan on giving her some time to think about it, but I suppose I'll get an answer soon enough," he answered honestly.

"We'll take a recess and my lawyer and I will read it, and then we'll talk… but I'm making no promises," Rebecca retorted, angry with Booth for changing the status quo, and stood up to leave the room with her lawyer when the mediator nodded.

"Look, Rebecca, I don't wanna go to court, I don't think it'll do any favors to Parker, but I want this settled for everyone's sake. We're reasonable adults capable of putting our kid's needs over us, and Parker needs both of us equally. This is a fair agreement for the three of us, and I'm willing to modify it in the future if the circumstances change, as long as it's done for Parker's benefit," Booth told her standing up too and looking her in the eye.

Rebecca and her lawyer left the room without further delay and not one more word. It remained to be seen how reasonable she was going to be and how nasty the rest of the negotiation was going to be.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think. :-)**

* * *

**Julianne:** I'm really happy you're liking my story.

I like to think of Cam/Angela conversation as Booth's and Brennan's defenders arguing about their defendants, if that makes any sense. But yeah, Cam was the perfect character to point out to Angela (who often sees the world through pink glasses) how Booth felt. I love Cam too, she's one of my favorites characters too.

As for Hannah and her relationship with Booth, I agree with you, Booth had a right to built a new life for himself and that life didn't have Brennan as the center. A big part of the audience saw this as Booth being insensitive with Brennan. I thought it was natural, it made sense. He no longer was building his life around Brennan, she was just a friend, nothing more.

A big part of the audience tends to see Booth's mistakes but not his good actions, while they see Brennan's good actions but not her mistakes. In reality, they've both made good and bad decisions, and some of them had bigger consequences than others. In this case, Brennan's decision to reject Booth had as consequence that he took 'no' for an answer and he moved on.

I hope you enjoyed this new chapter too :-)

**Karrissa:** I'm really happy to hear that you're loving my story, and to see that you like how I'm portraying Booth. I've said this before and I'll keep saying it, they gave Booth extensive training as a NCO and in the FBI, he's sure to have a masters degree, but the writers of the show keep forgetting that. They keep forgetting that he acted dumb to catch murders/suspects/ect off guard. I will not forget that, so don't worry, you'll see more of his smarts in the future. :-)

Brennan's arrogant and that's a big problem. Anyone that's arrogant is bound to have a hard time to see their mistakes. Brennan doesn't escape this. Once she makes up her mind about something, she refuses to see any other possibility, to consider that she may be wrong. Any Anthropologist (even a bad one) would have known that dating a guy's boss after rejecting said guy is a kick in the nuts for said guy. Only being in denial about it would stop this (or doing it on purpose). Being taken down a peg and forced to see her mistakes may be the way to get her to see other possibilities, and to find a way to be happy.

Hope you keep enjoying my story :-)


	7. Chapter 6

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

**The Parker Factor**

**Timeline:** October, 2010; Second week (Saturday) upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** Post 6x02- "The Couple in the Cave"

**Note/warnings:** In this chapter you will see some tension between Booth and Brennan. Their friendship will heal, but you must remember that it will take time.

Also Hannah is in D.C. (Booth/Hannah pairing).

* * *

Once Rebecca left, the mediator left the room too, giving some privacy to the other party.

"What do you think, Julia?" Booth asked noticeably nervous.

"Well, Miss Baker is on your side and Moore knows it, so I'm guessing he'll recommend her to accept the deal or negotiate to reduce the time you get with Parker but accept the rest," she told him after some seconds of consideration. "But you expect her to fight," Julia added, more a statement than a question. Booth nodded.

"Then relax and let me do the talking now," she told him in a calming voice. She then stood up to bring him some coffee, and sat down in silence allowing her client to relax until the meeting restarted.

* * *

Rebecca and her lawyer left the room and were directed to an adjoining office so that they could discuss the contract in private. They read the contract carefully, and then she asked Mr. Moore what he thought about it.

"That depends. If he doesn't want to go to court, he may be willing to negotiate and reduce the time he gets with Parker but he won't back down on the other exigencies. If he does decide to go to court he probably would get half custody. Garcia is the best… and Miss Baker is on his side too, and if she's here then the case would go to Judge White and he always listens to her… the odds are that he'll get the half custody he's asking for, maybe more depending on Baker's opinion. My recommendation is either accept this deal or negotiate to change the 50/50 to 60/40 or something like that… get some more time for you, but do not let this get to the court," he told her honestly.

Rebecca nodded and they returned to Garcia's office to continue with the negotiations.

* * *

Soon after Rebecca, her lawyer, and the mediator were back in the room and the meeting could start again.

"The answer is no, Seeley, I'm not giving you half custody, I'm not giving you so much time with my son," Rebecca said coldly.

"Our son, Rebecca, he is our son," Booth corrected, looking heatedly at her.

"Booth, please, relax. Let me handle this," Julia ordered him gently. Booth took a deep breath calming himself as much as he could, and nodded. He knew that he had to remain calm in front of the mediator to keep her on his side. The mediator could be the extra pressure he needed to get Rebecca to sign the contract.

"Miss Stinson, Parker Booth is Agent Booth's son. That cannot be denied. He has rights as a father, and he won't tolerate your constant violation of those rights. We are offering you a fair deal and the opportunity to do the right thing for Parker. I assure you the probabilities of getting this contract approved in a court are higher than you think," Julia said calmly and convincingly. She needed Rebecca to believe that she couldn't win here. She could accept the deal or she could negotiate but she couldn't say no to everything.

"I don't think so. He's an FBI agent and he's a man. No judge would give him half custody," Rebecca retorted rudely.

"That may have been true in the past, Miss Stinson, but I assure you men get half custody and even full custody nowadays," Julia answered still with her calm and soft manner.

"Still not signing it," Rebecca said grimly, apparently not impressed by Julia's words.

"May I ask why?" Miss Baker asked, looking at the woman questioningly. "I've been given a full report of Agent Booth's life: his service record, both in the Army and the FBI; his current post in the FBI; I've been able to interview Deputy Director Cullen about his hours, job, etc.; I've been told about his past problems with gambling and he has given me full access to review his accounts, which I have gone over and found no problems for more than six years, and very small ones since his entrance in the Gamblers Anonymous program a week after Parker's birth, which also prompted his change from the Army to the FBI. I see a man that has had problems in the past and has overcome them or made changes, big changes, for his son. So I find no reason to not give him half custody, in fact, were this go to court I would recommend Judge White to approve this contract. Taking into consideration your attitude I may have to recommend him to increase the amount of time with Parker given to him."

"Rebecca, I strongly recommend you to accept the deal," Moore told her. Moore knew Baker's threats were never empty, and that Judge White approved whatever she suggested on virtually every occasion.

"Look, Becs, I get it, really, I do. You're going to miss him when he's with me, but do you think that I don't miss him? How would you feel if you couldn't see our son because I refused to let you?" Booth said, pleading with her. "Please, you know that this is the fair thing to do, and you know that I'm never going to stop you from seeing him on my days if you want to or calling him or something. So please, do the right thing."

Rebecca looked at Booth carefully, studying him for some minutes. "Okay, Seeley," she said nodding and smiling sadly. "You're right. In your position I would have gone crazy. I haven't been fair to you. I told you once that you're a good father, yet I limit your time with him. I won't like not having Parker all the time, but you're right. This is the fair thing to do."

Julia smiled at the other woman and passed the contract that was in the middle of the table and a pen to her so that she could sign it. That done Booth, who had expected this to be a lot more difficult, signed too and then stood up to hug Rebecca and thank her.

"Thanks, Becs, really thank you," he said while hugging her tightly and kissing her soundly on the cheek.

"You're welcome, Seeley," she answered, hugging him back. "But I plan on calling my kid every night when he's with you."

"Call twice." Rebecca had never seen him smile so much in all the years they have known each others. She couldn't help smiling back.

* * *

After thanking Rebecca and Julia profusely Booth went back home, had a quick lunch, and started to prepare for dinner with Hannah. He was going to cook his now, thanks to Cam, famous lasagna. The problem was he was doing it because he suspected that the relaxed and happy evenings with the reporter weren't going to last long now. He knew she was a nomad and suspected she wanted to stay that way, and he wanted roots which made them incompatible. The time to make decisions was here. Still, nothing could take away his happiness over the done deal with Parker's custody. He was one happy guy, and everything was done with a huge smile on his face while whistling or singing to the tunes that came from his stereo.

When Hannah arrived everything was ready for a perfect romantic evening: the table was set, candles included; the wine was open; dinner was ready to be served. He was showered and dressed as if it were a date: dark jeans and black dress shirt.

Booth was still happily whistling with the music when he heard the door open. "Hey, Hannah, baby, dinner's ready," he called out.

"Wow," Hannah said when she entered the dining room.

She was looking a little shocked with all the preparations he did for their evening; probably within reason considering they were supposed to talk about those issues that he was so sure they needed to talk about. She didn't see the point. From her point of view, they were just two adults enjoying a good relationship and having a good time. But she suspected Booth didn't see it that way, he probably wanted more than that: marriage, family, kids… Those were things that she didn't want because she wanted her independence and her trips, and she knew that Booth guessed as much. So why the romantic evening?

Seeing how stunned Hannah looked Booth decided to explain. "We said we would talk today, right? So why not do it with style?" he said waving his eyebrows and smiling.

"You look happy," she commented softly, not wanting to question his statement, knowing it probably was a way of having one last good night. "Did the meeting go that good?"

"Oh, yeah, Rebecca was pretty reasonable for her and we got it signed before lunch," he told her smiling like a kid at Christmas.

"So, how much time did you get?" she asked a little worried but trying not to show it.

"50/50 all the way," he answered. His smile grew even bigger, something Hannah hadn't thought possible a second before.

"What does that means for us, Seeley?" Hannah asked apprehensively. She suspected nothing good, or at least not what she wanted. She sighed, messed her blond hair with her hands and walked nervously to the living room closely followed by the agent.

Booth looked at her, really looking for the first time that night. He studied her, and he saw that she wasn't happy with the outcome. She wasn't ready for a family or a kid running around the house all day.

"Depends. Do you feel up to the challenge that having Parker here half of the time would be?" Booth asked her seriously. "Look Hannah, I love you, I really do, but Parker is my number one priority, and I need to know that you're okay with me being a father before our relationship gets more serious; before I fall completely in love with you. You deserve to know what you're getting into before you get into it deeper too."

"I'm good with you being a father, Seeley, but having Parker every other weekend is not the same thing as having him here all the time," she said letting herself fall on the couch.

"Hannah, if Parker being here is a problem, then you are not good with me being a father," he answered smiling sadly and sitting beside her so he could look at her face. "I know you love me. The question here is if you love me enough to get the whole package or not, because the reality, Hannah, is that I am a packaged deal."

"I don't know if I'm ready for that, Seeley. I love you, I do, but I'm not sure I'm ready to settle down," Hannah told him softly.

Booth nodded dejected. Even if he had expected the answer, it still hurt. "Do you have an answer now or do you want to think about it?" He had promised himself that he would give her time to think about it if she wanted and he was going to do it.

"Can I think about it?" Hannah asked confused.

"Well, if you already know what you want, then there's no need for it, but if you're not sure then, yes, you can think about it. I have Parker next weekend and then the new contract will kick in, meaning he'll be here a month starting Monday. You can have until Friday before I pick him up."

"I came to D.C. for you. I changed my job for you and now I get six days to decide if I want more changes. That's not fair, Seeley," Hannah said irritated, getting up from the couch to face him from a higher position.

"Life's not fair, Hannah," was Booth's simple answer. "I didn't ask for all those changes you made; you made them. You knew that I am a father and about my intention of changing the custody agreement. It's not my fault that you didn't really understand the implications."

Hannah took a deep breath trying to calm down. She loved Seeley and she didn't want to lose him but a family was too much.

When she finally spoke, she said the only thing she could say to keep him a while. "I was offered to go with the President on his trip to London this week. I'll leave tomorrow morning and I'll come back next Sunday night. It'll give me two extra days to think about it. Is that okay with you?"

Booth nodded accepting her offer, and she took her bag and got ready to leave. "I'm gonna go to the hotel and think. Ultimatums don't really help my libido."

Booth smiled tightly but said nothing and let her go. He knew with that last comment that she really never understood what being a father meant to him, and it only confirmed that she didn't want him as a whole, she just wanted what she perceived as the fun part: the agent, the soldier, the lover… but not the difficult parts. She didn't want the father, or the man behind the suit or the fatigues. She didn't want the guy who worried about his son every day constantly or had nightmares about his dead friends. He knew she would call during her trip to tell him that she had reached a decision and she wanted her trips and not roots. That he didn't fit in her life.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please, let me know what you think. :-)  
**

**To all my readers:** Sorry for the delay. I know I should have updated yesterday but I simply didn't have the time.

For those who are asking themselves 'where the hell is Alex?' don't fear, she'll be back with us next chapter.

* * *

**Julianne: **I'm very happy to see that you're still liking my story. Your reviews always make me smile :-)

I've never liked how Rebecca played with Booth's rights as a father in the show, she comes out as a childish-vindicative woman who wants to get back at Booth for the pregnancy, the broken relationship or whatever. Then they turn her around in 1 episode of S.2 (the only time she's nice) and tells Booth that he's a good father, yet seconds (or episodes) later she's back to playing with Booth's visitation rights. She'd always annoyed me.

Anyway, I decided to have her act like in "The Truth in the Lye", recognize that Booth is a good father and act accordingly and fairly. I hope you liked my solution.

As for Hannah, I can only say that you're a smart cookie! The new chapter already told you were dead on.

One of my problems with Hannah/Booth relationship in the show was that Hannah seemed to be very shallow and interested in a "good time" and not in a relationship. This made the relationship look a little immature. I think that a more mature relationship suits Booth's character better so that's exactly where I'm going.

I hope you liked this chapter...

**Kwapple:** Thanks for your review. Knowing that you don't follow stories that don't get B&B together, having you read this long and review is a big compliment. :-)

I'm glad that you think that my portrayal of S6 is accurate. For me B&B distance and awkwardness was natural and even an important part of Brennan's evolution, I think it helped to take her to see her mistake in tDitP.

As for Hannah, I agree with you, she seemed like a shallow character... so I'm saying 'goodbye' to her very soon :-)


	8. Chapter 7

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

**The Maggots in the Meathead**

**Timeline:** October, 2010; Sunday of the second week and third week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** 6x03- "The Maggots in the Meathead"

**Note/warnings:** In this chapter you will see some tension between Booth and Brennan. Their friendship will heal, but you must remember that it will take time.

This is the last chapter of the Booth/Hannah pairing story arc.

* * *

The morning after his talk with Hannah, Booth woke up with a splitting headache and a very bad mood. The former was the result of a horrendous hangover, which was in turn the result of drinking the bottle of wine he opened for dinner on his own and only washed it down with some Chinese leftovers because he hadn't been in the mood for lasagna anymore, and the two or three neat bourbons he had when the wine was finished. The later was a mix of frustration and anger; he was more than tired of falling for women who didn't want him, at least not for real.

He had fallen in love with Rebecca and, while she had loved him enough to have his kid, she hadn't loved him enough to risk her independence by getting married to him. Then he had fallen in love with Brennan, who hadn't loved him enough to fight her fears and try to be with him. And just now he loved a woman that was too consumed by her nomadic lifestyle to stop for five seconds to really consider who the man she was dating was. Thank God he had wanted to have a serious talk about their expectations and his priorities in life before getting more involved. If not he would have only accomplished falling in love with another woman who would have fled sooner rather than later. And yeah, he could say that Hannah hadn't broken it off with him yet, that she was just thinking about their relationship, but he would be lying to himself. He knew what her answer will be.

It really angered him. It was really frustrating to love three women only to discover they were all scared of committing to him and hid it behind their independence. Hell! One had been so terrified she wouldn't even try! He just didn't get it. He was an independent guy and he wasn't afraid of commitment, so why were they?

At the end, it really didn't matter. The conclusion was simple: they didn't want him; they didn't love him enough. And after reaching that sad conclusion last night, he was feeling more than a little depressed, so he drank a little too much and now he was paying the price. He was hung-over, depressed, and angry.

So he got himself a cup of coffee and went to sleep it off a while on the couch. It didn't help much with his dark mood, but it did help with his headache and his hangover. And when his stomach told him that it was lunch time, he finally mustered enough energy to get up from the couch and make himself some lunch. He still didn't want the lasagna that only seemed to be a reminder of his failed relationship so he put it in a box to take it to a charity diner near his apartment and made a grilled cheese sandwich.

After lunch, a lot of coffee, and tidying the house a little he felt more human. He was still sad and angry though. He decided to go for a run because his experience told him it would at least take care of part of his anger. He put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt, got his iPod and keys, and left his apartment jogging slowly towards the nearest park.

* * *

Booth had been running for more than an hour and he was starting to feel tired. The hangover, the emotionally exhausting day he had yesterday, and the run were really wearing him down. At least he was feeling less stressed and angry. It was then that one of his favorite Foreigner's songs started sounding in his ears and he started singing it softly to himself. Maybe it was the song that distracted him or maybe it was his tiredness, but the next thing he knew was he had collided with something, loose his footing, and was falling to the floor butt first.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention… I was listening to my favorite song and… Booth?" The woman uttered while pulling herself up from the floor and dusting her running pants. She was looking at him with a confused expression on her face. He was equally confused by her presence in this particular park, and he let it show on his face too.

However, the spell was broken when Alex offered her hand to help him up and the agent accepted it, uttering his thanks softly and got up from the floor. "No, no, no, I'm the one that's sorry, Alex, I was distracted too. You… You're okay, right?" he asked concerned, and the woman nodded, smiling at him silently thanking him for his worry.

"So you were listening to your favorite song?" Booth asked teasingly. Their earplugs had fallen down when they had crashed into each other, allowing Booth to listen to said favorite song. He was surprised to notice that she was listening to the same song that had, coupled with fatigue and stress, distracted him enough to not notice the doctor. "Kinda sappy song, you know?"

"That may be, but I'm a girl; I get to listen to sappy songs without getting teased. On the other hand, a big, badass FBI slash Ranger who's listening to the same song doesn't," Alex answered in the same teasing voice.

"Parker, my kid, messed with my iPod… he's 9 and lives with his mom most of the time," Booth tried to justify his choice of music. For her smile he knew that she wasn't buying into it but also that she was expecting some playful and friendly banter about the topic.

"Yeah? Sorry, not buying it." She smirked and crocked her head to one side daring him to keep arguing.

"Okay, truce, I love Foreigner, even the sappy songs," Booth offered, and Alex accepted it with a smile. "So… you live nearby?" the agent asked trying to find a new topic of conversation. He really didn't want to say goodbye to Alex yet.

"Yeah, at the other side of the park. You?"

"Just a few blocks down that street," Booth answered, pointing to the nearest street by them. "So where are Maya and Sarah?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't know if he was being nosey and he didn't want to offend her, but he was curious.

"With my neighbor. She's an old lady that lives with her granddaughter, a young woman that's juggling college, and work, and a nine month old boy. As you can imagine every dime counts... they babysit for me from time to time and I get a free afternoon for a relaxing run and a long, very long bath," she told him smiling. It was obvious to him that she liked her neighbors.

For some reason Booth smiled back at her, probably it was the idea of such a beautiful woman in a tub. He stopped his mind from wandering around and asked with concern, "So where are the parents of such a great young girl and the father of the baby?"

"Susan's daughter and son-in-law died in a car accident a long time ago. As for the boy's father, he resigned his rights before Ian was even born. They haven't heard from him since," Alex answered with sadness and some irritation. She was sad for her friends and probably more than a little irritated with the little weasel that fathered the boy.

"Little weasel," muttered Booth, as annoyed as the doctor.

"If it makes any difference if Susan catches the guy he would learn what an old lady can do with a purse," Alex told him with a crooked smile making Booth chuckle. "She's a real mama bear."

After a few awkward moments of silence, Alex decided to ask, "So, speaking about mama bears, when I delivered Logan's file, I met your very own mama bear and she told me that you were dating a reporter… how's that going?" She was only curious. She was not fishing for information, or at least that was what she was telling herself. She didn't feel ready to date an FBI agent yet, but she could admit, if only to herself, she may want to do so in the future.

Booth sighed in irritation; he was more than a little angry with Hannah because she had followed him to D.C. yet she hadn't thought about him at all, about whom he really was or what his expectations or desires would be. She just thought about her own desires. "Not good," he answered simply, letting his anger show.

"Sorry, I didn't want to be nosey," Alex apologized, thinking she had crossed a line and he was irritated with her.

"No, don't apologize. It's okay. I'm angry with Hannah… that's her name, obviously," he said a little nervous not liking how rude he had sounded. "I met her in Afghanistan and we started dating. She's a nomad, as she likes to call it, so when I got back home I thought it would end sooner rather than later, but she came to D.C. And… well, she knew that I was a father… dating a father is too much for her nomadic lifestyle; but she came here to be with me!"

"And you're angry because she followed you to D.C. out of her temporary desires and didn't think about your feelings or your son's," Alex deduced.

Booth nodded. "Fortunately, I didn't introduce her to Parker yet. But I got half custody yesterday so we talked about it… and as you can imagine it didn't end well… now I'm just waiting for her to call me and end it."

He could acknowledge he was mourning a relationship that hadn't ended yet, but he felt it was over. He could see that Alex understood that and why his relationship with Hannah couldn't survive. This made him feel better for some reason. He wasn't going to explore it yet though. He wasn't ready.

Seeing his dark mood, Alex decided to lighten it a little. "I thought that guys with kids were hot. Women no, mind you, but guys… Oh, Yeah!"

"I think that's dogs," Booth answered smirking at her, "at least from my experience."

"You may be right. It's been a while since I dated… I can definitely tell you that having kids is like a guy repellent, so I know the feeling," she told him sympathetically.

"We should found a club," he added a little dejected.

"Anyway, I should get going home," Alex said a little awkwardly, not really knowing how to continue the conversation. Neither of them was ready to date the other, so taking a step in that direction seemed pointless at the moment.

"Yeah, the kids and all… don't wanna let you without your bath," Booth answered smiling at her. "And I probably need a shower." Alex turned her nose to the side making a face that clearly said that she agree with him. Booth laughed softly. "Okay, I'll take the probably out of the sentence."

"I didn't say it," Alex said teasingly.

"You didn't need to," Booth answered keeping his smile in place. "I'll let you go. See you, Alex."

"See you, Booth, and congratulations… you know, the half custody," Alex said smiling at him and waving her hand as she started running into the park.

With that, Booth started running back to his apartment feeling better about everything. Hannah was going to be out of his life soon, but he was going to spend half of it with his son. It was more than a fair trade in his opinion.

* * *

On Monday, it was his phone that woke up Booth way too early, even for him. Shaw called him to tell him that someone had found a body in a very bad state of decomposition on the beach. It was clearly a case for him and the Jeffersonian lab and Charlie had entrusted her with calling Booth. They agreed to meet at the Hoover and go to the crime scene together, so Booth got out of bed, called Cam and Brennan, got ready, and left for the Hoover to pick up Shaw and a black coffee at the cart besides the building. He desperately needed a coffee.

When Booth and Shaw arrived to the crime scene, Brennan and Cam were already looking at the body, and Wendell was picking up soil samples of the area. Booth greeted the squints and introduced Shaw.

"People, this is Agent Genevieve Shaw, she's going to be the secondary liaison with the lab, you know, she'll do my job when I can't for whatever reason. Until then, I'm gonna train her in working these kinds of cases and with you, so she'll be around," he explained. "Agent Shaw, these are Doctor Camille Saroyan, Doctor Temperance Brennan and Mr. Wendell Bray," he added pointing to each squint in turn. "You'll have to wait to go to the lab to meet Hodgins and Angela."

Soon enough the work at the crime scene was done and everyone returned to the lab, the agents included. Once there, Booth introduced Shaw to Hodgins and Angela. Then he explained to all of them that Agent Shaw was going to be around in the lab for the duration of this case, and she was expected to learn as much as she could of the procedures the scientists followed, so he asked them to include her and answer her questions. "And Hodgins if something happens to my agent due to one of your stupid experiments I'll shoot you, got it?"

"Got it. Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything stupid. If you kill me Angela or her father will find a way to kill me again for leaving her alone now," Hodgins answered seeing the pointed look his wife was giving him.

"Okay, guys, I want to say something else that is not case related," Booth said calling the squints attention back to him. "I have something to celebrate and I want you to celebrate with me, so when we solve this case we'll have a get together at the Founding Fathers. Wendell, invite the rest of the squinterns, would you?"

Wendell nodded. "Are we celebrating what I think we are? It is about Parker, right?"

"Yep." Booth's bright smile told the squintern and Cam all they needed to know, and both congratulate him effusively.

When the congratulations were over, Booth went to his office leaving two happy squints, a bunch of puzzled ones, and Shaw equally confused. He already had an ID for the victim because his wallet had been with the body, so he could run a background check on him and talk to his mother.

Richard Dominick Genaro, AKA Ritchie the V, was a young guy who went to school to became a therapist but who partied too much with a bunch of overgrown dumbass kids that Brennan insisted on calling Guidos. Mrs. Genaro blamed one of those friends for his death and/or any trouble her son could have been in, Frankie Costello, AKA L'il Frankie. Knowing that, Booth wanted to interview the guy so he headed with Brennan to the house Ritchie shared with his friends in the Jersey Shore. There, after a shameful spectacle of cries, Frankie told the partners about a ridiculous fight the victim had with Peppy Dio because they were wearing the same t-shirt on Thursday at Club Elegante, the last time they saw him alive.

On their way to the Jersey Shore, Brennan was so focused on comparing the Guidos with a tribe that they didn't talk about anything else, except for a short call from Cam telling them Ritchie died approximately two days ago. But unfortunately for Booth, on the way back to D.C., she was no longer interested in that and she wanted to know what he had to announce to the group. Cam and Wendell already knew, at least partially, and the rest of the team was speculating about it. The general consensus was that it was related to his allotted time with Parker. Anyhow, as his partner, she wanted to know and Booth obliged.

"Yes. Rebecca and I signed a half custody agreement this Saturday," he told her smiling happily.

"When did you tell Cam and Wendell about it? And why didn't you tell me? I'm your partner," she asked, upset because she hadn't been the first to know about it.

"I talked with Cam and Wendell about drawing a custodial contract while I was in Afghanistan. I told Caroline too and she put me in contact with a lawyer friend of hers. They know that the agreement was signed but not the terms, so don't tell them. I want to do it myself. The only ones who know I get half custody are you and Hannah," Booth explained. He didn't tell her about his encounter with Alex in the park because he feared it would lead to another argument.

"That still doesn't answer why you didn't tell me?" she pushed the issue. She was clearly upset about it.

"When, Bones? When you were in your little bubble in Maluku ignoring all of us? You didn't keep contact with me, or anyone else," Booth retorted tightly and Brennan dropped at least that part of the debate. It was obvious she felt chastised.

Sadly, it didn't last. "How did Hannah take it? I can't imagine an intelligent and independent woman like her wanting to change her lifestyle to build a family."

Booth really hated her know-it-all voice at the moment. "You should tell that to Angela or Cam," he answered in an irritated voice. "Anyway you're right on one thing, like you, she doesn't like commitment, and while she's thinking about everything during her work trip, I'm fairly sure she'll call to break off our relationship."

"I'm very committed to my work so it's untrue I don't like commitment," Brennan argued.

"I think we both know I meant in relationships, Bones."

That was the last thing said during the rest of the drive, probably due to the agent's sharp voice that made clear his desire to leave that particular conversation. Booth was tired of her jabs at his relationship with Hannah and/or relationships and love in general.

Back in D.C. they met with Sweets and Shaw at the diner for lunch and to comment on any progress made on the case. Booth left Sweets with a file full of printed text messages from the victim's cell phone for him to study because he sure refused to look through all that gibberish of letters. He didn't understand that crap. Furthermore, he refused to do so. That kind of crap was baby duck's job. He ordered him to do it at the Jeffersonian to allow Shaw to observe and aid him. He wanted her to see how the shrink worked without pulling her out of the lab and the learning process that was observing the squints.

"Shaw, when you get back to the lab tell Wendell that I like Evelyn very much so he wants to be a gentleman," Booth told the agent moments after the squintern left the diner with take-out for two. They all turned to stare at him confused and waiting for the agent to explain himself. Obviously he was the only one who saw Wendell enter the diner and get the take-out. He refused to gossip about it so he ignored their looks, and went back to his food. "Just do it, Shaw."

The next morning, Sweets and Shaw explained to him what he called a jealousy map, basically a diorama that pointed them to Marie Galasso as a possible scorned woman and a suspect. She was, however, cleared after Booth interviewed her, but she gave them another suspect: Terror, the bouncer of Club Elegante. Terror sold steroids in his gym and when Ritchie ratted him out he lost his job, but he too was a dead end. The guy had been in New York the whole weekend to watch Billy Elliot and he knew the play by heart. And after talking to Peppy, Booth was convinced of both his innocence and his stupidity. With that Marie, Terror, and Peppy Dio were cleared. They were out of suspects; they didn't know what the weapon was, and they still had two missing days between the last time Ritchie was seen and his actual death.

Fortunately, two days after their first trip to Jersey Shore, during lunch Brennan realized that the victim must have been frozen for a while and called the lab. Wendell and Cam were able to solve the case with that information.

"If the guy was covered with ice then the thaw would have accelerated decomposition, which explains why he was in such a bad shape when we found him," the coroner explained.

"So, whoever killed him did it on Thursday, put him on ice and then buried him on the beach on Saturday," Booth said thinking out loud, "and you said that the killer hit him with a pipe-shaped thing of concrete covered with yellow plastic…"

"The ice guy, Booth," Wendell almost shouted, excited, "I worked on that a summer; you need a bat to break the ice; the murder weapon is a bat. And I know it has nothing to do with the crime, but Booth, I promise I intend on being a gentleman."

"Good boy," Booth told him through the phone. "So Bones, what do you say, should we go to bag our guy?"

Brennan and Booth left the diner and went to arrest the ice guy, Clinton, who was fed up with the Guidos stealing his ice and had wanted to give Peppy a lesson. Sad thing was he confused him with Ritchie because they looked alike and wore the same t-shirt, so when he confronted Ritchie, the victim didn't understand what was happening. They fought and Clinton hit him with the bat and killed him.

* * *

Hannah had been thinking about Seeley since she left his apartment on Saturday night. At first, she had been angry at him for giving ultimatums and forcing changes on her, but then she realized that Booth was right. He didn't ask her to follow him; she did it because she wanted to. She knew about his intentions with Parker; she just assumed he wouldn't get more time with him. Since reaching that conclusion, she had tried to decide on what she wanted. She moped for days until Margaret, another reporter on the plane asked her about it.

They talked about it for a while and finally, Margaret told her, "Look, Hannah, you ain't gonna separate the hot guy and the father. You can have the hot daddy or find yourself another hot guy."

Margaret was very blunt and sometimes way too cynical, but she was generally right. And this time was not an exception.

* * *

With the case solved, the team met at the Founding Fathers to celebrate, like Booth asked them. All the squints were there, even Fisher who, after his short period in an institution, had decided to work only on limbo cases for the time being.

"Make the big announcement, Cherie," Caroline said joining them.

Booth nodded, but before he could talk his cell rang and he excused himself to take the call. However, he stayed close enough for his friends to hear his half of the conversation. He already knew what the call was about, and while he valued his privacy, he knew that keeping his break up from the squints was a utopia. Not only that, he didn't feel the need to walk further away to be out of earshot from his friends. Maybe he was just too much into the celebratory mode to care.

"I understand, Hannah. You're a nomad and I want roots," he said to the phone with a sad smile. "I'm sorry too. We're both sorry and we're both a little hurt, but if we had waited we'd be very hurt. Goodbye Hannah, have a good life."

"Okay. Back to my news," he told his friends at his return to their table. Their faces told him that they had indeed heard him, but he kept talking without giving them time to comment. "Some of you know that I've been working on getting a custodial agreement for Parker… and well, Rebecca and I signed it this Saturday… I got half custody," he said with what probably was the biggest smile they've ever seen on him.

Congratulations, handshakes, and hugs were given with no measure. Hodgins got a bottle of Champagne for a toast and told them to drink whatever they wanted because the night was on him. "Congratulations, man. I'm very happy for you," he told Booth honestly. "And I'm sorry about Hannah… the call," Hodgins pointed to his phone as if to tell him that they heard his conversation.

The agent shrugged a little and smiled to show them that he was fine, a little hurt but fine. "So, Cherie, no more blonde reporter?" Caroline asked.

"No, my relationship with Hannah is over, Caroline."

"Good. Now you can call the pretty doctor, Cherie," she said firmly.

Booth blushed furiously and hung his head trying unsuccessfully to hide it while everyone else tried to get as much gossip as possible about the pretty doctor.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please tell me what you think :-)**

**To everyone who put this story/me in their alert/favorite lists, and to everyone who reviewed: THANKS :-D**

* * *

**Julianne:**Thanks for your review, like always is a pleasure to hear your opinion :-)

I'm glad you liked my solution for Parker's custody. And I hope you like Alex's little scene here, and I can already say that she'll be back next chapter.

As for Brennan, she will have to see her mistake (we'll go through tDitP), deal with it and move on. I plan on giving her a "hopeful ending" but she won't get a boyfriend tomorrow, she has a lot of growing up to do before that can happen and look realistic or IC. Let's say that things will get worse before they get better for her. But don't worry I don't plan on bringing Sully again. I just can see Eddie McClintock as Sully anymore, and it'll be extremely weird to have Pete Lattimer (Warehouse13) in Bones...

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter too :-)


	9. Chapter 8

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 8:**

**The Body And The Bounty**

**Timeline:** October, 2010; fourth week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** 6x04- "The Body and The Bounty"

* * *

The rest of the week, after solving the Genaro case was slow or at least calmer than usual. This suited Booth perfectly because he went through two more sessions with Sweets. Only two to go! Happy, happy thought!

The weekend was spent with Parker, which was always good in Booth's book. When Monday arrived, the custody agreement kicked in and his first month with Parker living at his apartment arrived too. He was in a very good mood and not even the fourth session with Sweets took that away from him.

His mood faltered though when his car broke down. The damn thing took him from home to Parker's school and then to the Hoover but refused to take him to the crime scene, so he was forced to travel in Brennan's toy car. And because it was her car, she chose the theme of their conversation, which for some weird reason was the perfect murder and if he would be capable of catching her if she ever did commit said perfect murder. Both Cam and Booth thought the conversation was very weird, maybe even scary, but when he prompted Brennan to reveal her plan she refused saying that she couldn't risk him revealing the plan to a female killer in a postcoital haze now that he was dating again. From then on, Cam just found it very amusing and her smirk let him know it.

"She's jealous that you're on the market again, Seeley," she whispered to him.

Booth was very happy when Brennan finally left him at the Hoover before going to the lab to examine the head with shattered teeth and the hands that they found in the dumpster. He didn't enjoy being the source of Cam's amusement in the slightest.

Leaving Cam's amusement aside, this was one weird case, not for the case per se, but because of the squintern, or squinterns, that participated. Wendell, who was doing as many hours in the lab as he was allowed, was the official squintern of the week, but none other than Professor Bunsen Jude, the Science Dude, was going to shoot an episode at the lab and he wanted Brennan to make an appearance. So in order to earn her respect, and with it her participation on his show, he joined the team as a temporary squintern.

_C'est la révolution!_ The rest of the squinterns and Hodgins went crazy; they all wanted to work with the Dude. All of them, even Fisher, volunteered to assist for free to work with him. Cam was not amused anymore, but Booth was.

"So you have all of them in the lab?" he asked the coroner. Cam, Angela and Booth were having an early lunch at the diner while Brennan examined what little bones they had. Cam and Brennan agreed that one of them should stay in the lab to protect it from Hodgins and the squinterns.

"Yep. Fisher; Clark; Arastoo; Vincent, spurring facts about children and children's shows; Daisy, even more hyper than usual… and of course, Wendell, but he was supposed to be here. The other ones no." She complained and the agent laughed. "Don't laugh. It's not funny!"

"Oh, yes, it is. But on a more important note, Parker has been driving me crazy since I told him about the show being shot in the lab and I have a very important question: Who's better MacGyver or the Dude? Because the Dude makes cool experiments like Max, but Mac is wicked smart. He's the hero and always gets the girl…"

"Those are Parker's words, right?" Cam asked, smirking at the absurdity of the question. "He watches MacGyver? It's still on TV?"

Booth nodded. "Rebecca had a crush on the guy and she has all the DVDs."

Angela answered with conviction in her flirty voice, "well, I agree with Rebecca, MacGyver was very hot. Mac, hands down."

"Hodgins won't agree with you. He seems to think the Dude is some kind of god… but I do. MacGyver was hot," Cam answered chuckling softly. "But aren't you worried about the girl part?"

"Nah… kissing girls is yucky," he answered making a face.

"So getting the girl is cool but kissing her is yucky?" Angela asked confused. "You're gonna have to explain me how that works if I have a boy."

Booth shrugged his shoulders. "Kids' logic. Last year he wanted me to have a girlfriend because he wanted a pool."

"Anyway, I'm sorry to cut short this enlightening conversation, but I have to go back to the lab before the horde of squinterns commanded by Hodgins can destroy it," Cam said sounding a little frustrated.

With that the trio returned to their jobs. Angela had sent the facial reconstruction of the victim to Booth's office before lunch, and he had Shaw ID him, so when he returned to his office the victim's boss was there.

Their victim was Ray Kaminsky, AKA Wolf, a bounty hunter who worked for Gregory Gering of _Gering Bail Bonds_. Gering told Booth that Ray was following Charles Braverman when he disappeared. Braverman was indicted for the murder of a coworker. He jammed a mechanical pencil through his eye for singing show tunes at his desk. With that past Gering considered him extremely dangerous and he sent his best guy after him.

Reading the file with Shaw, they noticed that the prosecutor of the case was Caroline, so Booth called her to join them. Caroline informed them that Braverman's wife, Molly, who was supposed to testify against him, was missing. They had surveillance, both on their house and on Charles' cabin in the woods, but as of now they had been unable to locate either of them.

Angela called then to tell them that Hodgins and the squinterns had analyzed the beard of the victim and discovered where he had been before his death. They could pinpoint a half-mile stretch off the 250 highway where surely the rest of his body was.

"Braverman's cabin is there," Caroline informed the agent looking at the map in his computer.

"So Kaminsky follows Braverman; he makes him and kills him," Shaw deduced.

"Probably, but let's found ourselves a body," Booth answered, picking up the phone. "Let me call Tutti and Cam, and then we'll be on our way. Caroline, wanna come?"

"Tutti, sir?" Shaw asked her boss once he hung up the phone.

"A cadaver dog, she'll find the body for us. Obviously I called her handler, Maggie Macgregor," Booth explained while the trio left his office en route to his SUV. "Hey, Shaw, MacGyver or the Dude?"

"Sorry, sir?" Shaw asked, completely dumbfounded by her boss' question.

"Parker can't decide who's the coolest," he said as if that explained everything.

"MacGyver, sir. He was hot," Evelyn answered, giving him a tray with four take-out coffees. "I hope I got it right, Miss Julian," she added, pointing to one of the coffees.

"So that makes it four for MacGyver and his hotness… and what did I tell you about my coffee and calling me sir, Evelyn?"

"That you can make your own coffee and that I shouldn't call you sir, sir. But these are for Genny, Cam and Miss Julian, sir," she said pointing to each cup in turn and finally taking the last one herself. "What I don't know, sir, is why you assume that the fourth is for you?"

"That's mean! I don't get a coffee. I just get to hold yours," Booth whined. He even pouted like a little kid.

"Oh, don't be a baby, Cherie! I thought that you were all for being a gentleman. Well, let me tell you that pouting to get a coffee is not what a gentleman would do," Caroline admonished him. "You should practice, Cherie. You gotta impress the pretty doctor… if you ever call her…"

"But that was mean," he pleaded, trying his charming smile on the prosecutor.

"Well, sir, if I'm mean, you wouldn't want your portable mug full of hot black coffee," Evelyn said in a teasing voice, waving the mug in front of him. "It should keep it hot until you get there."

Booth snatched the mug from her hands before she changed her mind. "Okay, you aren't mean, but we're adding a new rule to your not-to-do list: do not torture me." He took a sip of coffee and made an act of tasting it. "Perfect, Evelyn. Thanks."

"You're welcome, sir."

Booth shook his head and murmured something about how he was completely ignored even by his secretary. Nonetheless, he set the pace towards the elevators and their final destination, closely followed by Caroline and Shaw.

"So, Cherie, going back to our previous conversation, my puckish side says MacGyver," Caroline said while they waited for the elevators. When she saw Shaw blushing, she pointed to the young agent and said, "That blush puts the count up to six ladies finding Mac a lot hotter than the Dude."

"No need to blush, Shaw. That's why Cam and Angela chose him, and why Rebecca has the DVDs."

* * *

Booth was right. Tutti found the body and Cam took it to the lab for the squints to examine. She was more than happy to give to the bored squinterns something useful to do before they could get sucked in by Hodgins' need to do disastrous experiments.

The Dude and the squinterns worked together on the body and discovered that there was substantial damage to the left fourth rib, directly over the heart. But when studying it closely, they discovered that both sides of the rib didn't match; there was a missing piece of the bone, which they found, and they found remodeling too. When they presented their findings to Brennan, she had Angela recreate the murder trying to prove her theory: Kaminsky was killed by his own rib. His rib was fractured somehow a week prior his death, and then a second injury dislodged and propelled the piece of bone into his heart.

That same afternoon, Booth found that Molly was hiding with her hairdresser thanks to Sweets input. Booth, Brennan and Shaw went to talk to her but were interrupted by Braverman. They all pursued him but due to the intervention of another bounty hunter, Janet LeBlanc, the guy escaped. Booth arrested LeBlanc and took her to the Hoover but ended up leaving her free to increase the pressure on Braverman.

After that, Booth left for the day. He had to pick Parker up from Hockey practice, and it was already bad enough that he couldn't coach that day and left the substitute to do it.

* * *

The next morning started at the lab with a crazy experiment designed to find the murder weapon. All the squinterns, Hodgins, and the Dude took turns to shoot all kinds of weird things to a dummy with paint stir sticks for the ribs and a balloon filled of red paint for a heart.

"Oh, my God! I hope this baby is a girl!" Angela exclaimed, seeing them throw things against the dummy.

At that exact moment, Daisy, looking like a mad woman, threw an axe to the dummy. "You may want to reconsider that," Cam told her.

"Done. I hope this baby is like me."

* * *

At the Hoover, Caroline showed some footage to Booth where Gering could be seen hitting Kaminsky with a pool cue. That was probably the first injury, the one that broke the victim's rib, so they interrogated Gering with Shaw and Sweets in the observation room. He, of course, denied killing Kaminsky and gave them a taped conversation between Molly and Charles. After that, it was obvious that Molly was completely subdued to her husband and was helping him to escape. Caroline, Shaw, Sweets, Booth, and Brennan worked together to determine the most probable escape route, and the partners jumped in the car to follow it leaving Shaw to coordinate everything from the Hoover. Considering that Braverman was injured from his last encounter with them, and that it was bad enough to force him into a medical facility, Booth had all the facilities on route controlled and/or advised of the situation.

Booth and Brennan were already in the car when the squints called to tell them that the Dude found the murder weapon: a potato gun. At the incredulity of the car occupants he explained that the murder weapon was a blunt, malleable projectile moving at a relatively low speed. The discovery was good enough to get Brennan to agree to participate in the Dude's show. Loud cheers by the horde of squinterns and Hodgins came through the phone. They all had tried to convince her to participate in the show since the beginning of the case, and this was no doubt a victory for them.

Finally, Shaw called Booth to inform him that Braverman had been spotted at MacArthur Hospital by one of the agents on surveillance duty. Once there, the partners were able to catch the spouses and LeBlanc, who had tried to hunt the couple too.

During the arrest, Booth noticed that LeBlanc's weapon shot bean bags; that was the murder weapon. LeBlanc shot Kaminsky to get Braverman herself without knowing that he had a broken rib, and when she accidentally killed him, she cut his hands and head off to make the identification difficult.

* * *

With the case solved and the murderer in custody, the Squint Squad, Caroline, and Booth were in the lab to see the shooting of the Dude's episode. Max was there too with the kids of the after-school children's program that he still ran. They were going to be the spectators of the show for the day, and Parker had wanted to join his friends so he was seated there too. Meanwhile, the adults were standing behind the cameras staring at the stage created on the platform and at the kids happily waiting for the Dude.

"Hi, Booth," Max greeted the agent. "Parker's here, right?"

"Hi, Max. Yes, he's there already," Booth answered pointing to were the blond boy could be seen playing with the boy beside him.

Booth could see that Max probably wanted to talk about something. For a con, the guy could be very obvious sometimes. Yet the agent didn't want to get into it at the moment. Whatever it was could wait until the show was over. He wanted to enjoy watching his son have his fun with it. Plus Caroline had been looking around the place since she arrived. She seemed to be looking for something or someone. She was plotting something. He didn't know what, and that made him very nervous.

"Oh, good. There she is," the prosecutor said, sounding clearly relieved by her presence, whoever the woman was.

Booth turned around to follow her eyes and find out what she was talking about. His mouth fell open, almost to his knees, and he glared, incredulous, at Caroline. "What? … How?"

"I told you to call the pretty doctor, didn't I?" Caroline told him in her no nonsense voice. Then, without giving him the opportunity to argue or point out that he hadn't called, she pushed him in the direction of the door where Alex was standing with Maya and a carrier with Sarah. "Now, go, go, fuss, fuss, go."

He didn't have any other option than to go and greet the lady, not that he wanted other options either. He was happy to see her there. It was obvious that Caroline had invited her for him and she came, and that thought put a smile on his face.

* * *

They all had seen the exchange between the agent and the prosecutor, and they all loved gossip, so the Hodgins' and Cam practically surrounded the lawyer in pursuit of answers.

Meanwhile, Max decided to observe from a distance and joined the squinterns. They were all there - except Daisy - anxiously waiting to see their mentor in the kids show. The squinterns probably noticed the others gossiping about Booth and the lady he was with, but only Wendell seemed to really pay attention to it. Seeing Wendell smile at the scene the agent and the strange woman with the girls created Max worried that Booth could be moving on for real and his daughter may never get him back. He decided to talk to the agent at a later time when he could get a straight answer out of him and finally understand what the hell had happened last year with his daughter and her partner. He told himself that maybe they still could get together, but even he had to admit that Booth seemed quite happy with the lady.

"Oh, god! Is that Alex?" Angela asked, excited. "What's she doing here?"

"He didn't call her, so I invited her," Caroline answered simply.

"You know where he saw her the first time?" Cam asked, distressed giving the prosecutor a murderous glare. If she backed out, Booth would get hurt so she wasn't sure that she liked that the prosecutor was playing matchmaker.

"Yes, I do."

"I don't," Angela and Hodgins complained at the same time.

"Arlington Cemetery," Cam told them and then went back to glare at the lawyer.

"I don't understand why that's an issue, but I do have a question: Where is the father of those two girls?" Hodgins asked confused by his boss strong reaction to the situation.

"Guess, Bug Guy, guess," Cam answered in her best Bronx's voice.

"Oh!" Angela and Hodgins exclaimed at the same time, both putting the pieces together simultaneously.

"Yeah, oh."

"She's here, Cherie," Caroline pointed out the obvious.

Angela smiled finally understanding the prosecutor. "If she's here, she's what Booth needs."

Cam relented and smiled too. Deep down, she did agree with them. She was just a little worried about her old friend.

"Shush, they're coming over," Hodgins ended the conversation before the agent could hear them gossiping about him.

* * *

"Alex," Booth greeted her with a smile and then waved his hand and smiled at the girls to greet them too. "Hello Maya, Sarah."

"Booth," Alex answered, returning the smile. Her smile grew bigger when she saw both girls waving back at him happily. "They like you."

"What can I say? Girls like me," he joked. "So… don't get this wrong, I'm happy that you're here, but… how? Caroline seems to like playing matchmaker… so did she threaten you… blackmail you maybe?"

Alex chuckled. "She did no such thing. She sent to the hospital some passes for me for the shooting, and I had two good reasons to come, so here I am."

"Two good reason, eh? And what might those reasons be?" Booth gave her his best charm smile.

"Well… for starters Maya loves the show. She's too little to get it so I guess that she likes the Dude himself and the whole paraphernalia," she answered, waving her right hand wildly and pointing to the colorful stage.

"That's a very good reason to come, Doctor Foster," he answered, feigning seriousness.

Alex nodded in the same fake serious way. She then tilted her head, smiled softly and asked, "Wanna know the second reason, Agent Booth?"

Booth felt instantly nervous. He gave a faint "yeah" for an answer, but he could see in her eyes the answer and that terrified and excited him greatly.

"I assumed that if Caroline was sending the tickets, you'd be here," she told him nervously.

Booth's smile grew even bigger. This woman had been through a lot and after everything, she was here to see him. She wanted to take the risk with him. It filled him with a warm feeling. It made him happy, but it was also a great responsibility for him. She was trusting him with her heart.

"We shouldn't disappoint Caroline, then. Let's go over there with the squints, shall we ladies?" he said offering Alex his arm.

Alex laughed at his antics but intertwined her arm with his and they walked towards the squints.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please tell me what you think :-)**

**To everyone who put this story/me in their alert/favorite lists, and to everyone who reviewed: THANKS :-D**

* * *

**Julianne: **Thanks, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. :-)

Like you I find very confusing, and annoying that the writers don't seem to be able to decide which Brennan keep. In one episode, she's wise and in the next she's narrow-minded, clueless... it's really annoying. And this season, she's also used to do make the easy joke... if it's time for elections, she plays president... and so on... it's no longer funny... at least not for me.

I also hate when they run Booth down and make him look stupid. He's not, and he has extensive training. I also like that this season they're writing some action for him. It's always good to see Booth in action.

I find that upsetting too. Many of the female fans like to support Brennan's independence, but more often than not she's not independent, she's just stubborn. She's in a relationship with Booth, none of them are really independent. They're two individuals, yes, but they have to act like a unit so the independence both can keep is small and limited by their family life. Yet Brennan seems to refuse to see it. She sometimes does/says things that many women would get angry about if the man would to do/say them. I particularly hate that double standard. If the guy can't do it, then she can't either.

Don't fear, Alex is mature, and she will appreciate Booth. I hope you like her.

Anyway, thanks for your review, like always. And, do you have an account? I always answer you here, but if you have an account I could answer with a PM (even if you don't log in to review because it's not convenient for you). If you have one PM me, please or let me know in your next review. If you don't have one, I'll keep answering here. :-)


	10. Chapter 9

**BOOTH'S NEW LIFE**

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

**The Bones That Weren't And Modern Hunting Techniques **

**Timeline:** October, 2010; end of fourth week upon the team's return to D.C.

**Season/episode:** 6x05 - "The Bones That Weren't"

* * *

Kaminsky's case was solved in barely two days, which left Booth with enough time that week to go through his fifth and last session with Sweets and to redact his first evaluation of Shaw and comment on it with Hacker and Cullen. All of it was on top of his normal workload and having Parker to care for. He made it to Parker's second practice of the week to coach the team, and he even went to the first practice his team had for the interdepartmental league on Thursday.

He took Parker with him. He liked watching him play and he was attached to Wendell. It was a good opportunity for his boy to bond with his friend, and he avoided the unnecessary babysitter. After the practice, Wendell and Booth changed the traditional beers with the guys for milkshakes at the diner with Parker. The boy finished the last of his homework there while the two adults talked about a bit of everything.

"So… how was your date with Alex after the show?"

"It wasn't a date date; we just went for a snack with the kids… milkshakes and such… no big deal," the agent answered a little flustered.

"But, dad, you two were doing these weird goo-goo eyes all the time, like in the movies… that means that you like each other. And mom said that you must be dating someone new because you always have a 'silly grin' on your face," Parker said quoting his mother.

Booth groaned. "Not Rebecca too."

"Oh, c'mon man… you can't deny that," Wendell said pointing to Parker with his thumb. "I watched you during the show too and you couldn't take your eyes off of her. You gonna date her, right? You gotta try, Booth."

"Okay, okay, don't get all flustered, Wendell. I have a date with her tomorrow night, a real one, you know… dinner, pretty restaurant, the whole nine yards…I'm even taking her to dance."

"Good. That's better man," Wendell told him and both drank from their milkshakes practically at the same time.

"Dad invited her to his game on Saturday too," Parker chimed in smiling. "I'm done, dad, this was the last thing," the kid added giving his notebook to his father.

"Okay, bub, need me to check anything?" Seeing Parker shake his head while still drinking his milkshake with the straw, he put the notebook back into the kid's backpack.

"So…hockey… you're using the big guns, man," Wendell commented waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up." The two guys laughed with their friendly banter, but soon enough they parted ways. Booth had to take Parker home at a reasonable hour, and Wendell needed to study.

* * *

Friday morning, Brennan came to his apartment knocking desperately at what, from his point of view, was an ungodly hour. In reality it wasn't that bad; Parker was already in the bathroom getting ready for school, but he had had a very bad night full of nightmares and he was sleep deprived.

Giving up on his last ten minutes in bed, the time that Parker had left of his bathroom routine, the agent threw the covers off of his body. "Yeah. Oh." He got into a sitting position on the edge of the bed and made his toes crack. Then he stood up, put on his robe, and walked slowly towards the door stretching his body, making his joints crack along the way.

"Booth!" Brennan yelled from the other side of the door, still knocking insistently.

"Yeah!" Booth stretched his back and neck.

"Booth? Are you there?"

"No, I'm in South Beach, working on my tan," he told the closed door, irritated with Brennan's constant knocking. He finally got to the door and opened it for the anthropologist, "all right."

As soon as the door was open, Brennan started talking. "You need Sweets to sign your post-Afghanistan Fitness for Duty report. Did you forget?"

"Me?" Booth asked confused. He didn't understand what exactly she was doing at his apartment at the moment.

"Well, generally you wear more clothing, and you've been avoiding this for weeks."

"Avoiding what? Sweets' review… I just got through the last session two days ago and the paperwork reached my desk yesterday just before I left for Hockey practice. Bones, I had to do five sessions with the kid, these things aren't instantaneous," Booth explained to her. "I'm not dressed 'cause Parker is in the bathroom; I'll get ready while he has breakfast." He walked towards the kitchen expecting her to follow him, stretching the rest of his limbs and making his joints crack. "And I couldn't sleep. I got up at the crack of dawn. Ow."

"Do you always have this pronounced a release of gas in the morning?" Booth made a face to show his confusion and Brennan explained further, "synovial gas, that's what the cracking is."

"Synovial gas? What's that mean?" Booth started the coffeemaker, put a frying pan on the kitchen and got the bread and eggs out of the fridge.

"Well, there comes a point when your body can't hide all the abuse it's taken." Booth listened to her while he made breakfast for him and his boy.

"What do you… what do you mean 'certain point'?" he asked. He got the milk out of the fridge murmuring something about a distracting anthropologist making him forget half of the breakfast goodies. He poured a glass for Parker and turned his attention back to the eggs and the toasts.

"Booth, you've been shot and beaten, and…" Booth stopped her with a pointed look and rising hand when he heard Parker get out of the bathroom calling out for his breakfast.

"Here, Parks." Booth put a plate with two pieces of toast and some eggs beside the glass of milk for the kid. He then served himself a share of the breakfast and a big mug of coffee. "Bones get some coffee and sit down. We'll leave in thirty; I'll take Parks to school, and then I'll go to the Hoover."

"Oh."

"You can follow us in your toy car or you can meet me at the Hoover," Booth told her. He still was completely at a loss as to why she was there, but it was easy to deduce that Brennan wanted to support him, and had just chosen a weird way to do so. Anyway, he appreciated it; plus he didn't have much of an appetite and was eating fairly little, so he decided to suggest an alternative. They would meet at the diner for a real breakfast after he had left Parker at school. He could call Sweets and have him meet them there to sign the review; it would kill two birds with one stone.

When she nodded agreeing to the plan, he excused himself to get ready and less than thirty minutes later he was showered, shaved, and dressed. "Ready to go. C'mon, buddy, get your pack."

* * *

At the diner, the partners were seated and having breakfast while waiting for Sweets to join them. The time was filled with Brennan's chatter about Booth's injuries.

"Booth, you've been shot and beaten, jumped out of airplanes. The skeletal damage alone is..."

"Oh, God, I'm falling apart." The agent winced thinking of the damage done to his body and the pain endured at the time.

"You're fine… It's your skeleton that's falling apart."

Booth could see that Brennan wanted to continue, but she was interrupted by Sweets finally making it into the diner and crumbling into the booth besides her and in front of the agent.

"You're secretary is a bulldog," the psychologist complained. "I had to show her your text to prove to her that you told me to get the document and bring it here."

Booth chuckled. "I'll reward her with a coffee when I get back."

"Very funny, Booth, very funny," Sweets whined and even pouted when he saw that the agent was being at least partially serious.

Booth took the file from Sweets' hands and read his review. The psychologist declared that he was psychologically and emotionally fit for duty. The file was almost ready to send up the chain of command to his bosses: the only things missing were the signatures of Booth that showed that he had read it and of Sweets himself. Booth got a pen out of his jacket, signed the paper, and gave it to the shrink.

His phone rang at that moment and Booth was informed of the finding of a new body in need of the Squints' expertise, so he snatched the file from Sweets' hands once signed, paid the bill, and stood up. "C'mon, Bones. We got a case."

* * *

The trip to the crime scene was extremely irritating for Booth because Brennan decided to spend it listing all his injuries ever. Honestly, Booth didn't need to think about them or remember them more often than when his body reminded him. Brennan didn't seem to notice his discomfort though, and they exited the SUV at Kalorama Park with her still going on like a dog with a bone.

"The compression fracture to your T3 alone should have incapacitated you years ago.

Then, there's the fracture to your sternum from when that obese girl shot you; fractures to your metatarsals from when you were tortured; rib pitting from when you foolishly tried to act as a human shield."

"Rib pitting?"

"And that's before we even get to your compromised ligaments, both intertransverse and interior longitudinal… or…"

"How do you have room in your brain to remember all that?" Booth cut her off, deciding that he had heard enough about his past injuries. Past injuries that she was describing while they walked towards and through a crime scene full of FBI technicians, his subordinates, and the local cops. Even Agent Shaw was already there conversing with the poor guy who found the skull.

"I care about you, Booth, and the more abuse a body takes, the sooner it degenerates."

"That's it? That's all you got for me?"

"Well, it can be a good thing. In some tribes men like you are elders. They don't have to hunt anymore."

"Well, I want to go hunting. In fact, I have a date with Alex tonight."

"But, Booth, we have a case," Brennan complained.

"Yep and I have a date tonight that I'm not canceling… and a kid at home that needs entertaining during the weekend… Oh! And let's not forget the hockey game on Saturday."

"But…"

"Nope, no buts. Unless there's a real emergency I'll be off during the weekends, at least the months Parker lives with me. And he is gonna be a month with each of us, so that makes a lot of free weekends."

Brennan crouched to examine the visible skull in the concrete. "Male, late twenties," she said and got a probe out of her bag and put it down the skull's mouth. Booth signaled Shaw to join them and watch, and the young agent practically ran to his position.

"What's that?" Booth asked while he took his notepad out of his jacked and wrote down the information he needed.

"It's a probe. I can see the impression of the back of the skull but not the actual remains. It appears that when the concrete set the bone was still there but somehow it disappeared in the meantime." Brennan explained while looking intently at the screen that displayed the images captured by the probe.

"Okay. So, let me guess you want the whole slab of concrete shipped back to the Jeffersonian, right?"

"No. Don't be absurd. Two-by-three-by-four-meter section will be fine. Shouldn't weigh more than a ton," Brennan corrected him and retrieved her equipment. "Booth, this case won't be solved today. Do you think that you should take the weekend off?"

"Yep," Booth said nodding to emphasize his words. "This is obviously not a recent murder, so unless we discover something that can't wait or someone is at risk, I'm still taking the weekend off. The case will be waiting for me on Monday. You squints can do whatever you want, but even squints need days off."

Booth gave his orders to Shaw and then walked back to his car followed by Brennan, who kept arguing against his plans for the weekend. She argued and complained all the way to the Jeffersonian. Yet Booth was thanking his lucky stars because she wasn't listing his injuries anymore.

* * *

At the lab the slab of concrete was set on the platform, and the squint squad with Arastoo and Wendell, as the squinterns of the case, were ready to study it. Arastoo was the assigned squintern for the case following the rotation schedule. But when the lab was reopened and the internship program was reinstated, Cam approved some changes: Clark took responsibility of limbo and he must coordinate that with his rotations with Brennan, Fisher was assigned permanently to assist Clark in limbo, and Wendell was granted as much time in the lab as his classes allowed him by assigning him to any area of the lab, including limbo, that required an extra hand. Wendell was more than happy with the agreement; he was getting experience in every part of the lab: stomach content's tests, DNA tests, the use of a mass spectrometer, limbo, you name it, and he could work on any case he wanted as long as he was not needed in another area, and with two squints working on limbo, the most time consuming area, he was available most of the time. This case was incredible, they didn't even have a body, and he couldn't pass the opportunity to work on it, so here he was too.

Hodgins vacuumed the dust left inside the concrete and preserved it for analysis. Meanwhile, Wendell and Arastoo prepared the fluoroscope scan and the contrast agent, a barium sulfate slurry, to be injected into the concrete to allow the scan to obtain a clear picture of the inside of the slab.

"Once we fluoroscope the slab we'll know how much of this guy is inside," Arastoo explained.

The slow speed of the test, the fluoroscope had to scan the slab and then the computer had to process the data, bored Angela immensely, so she jumped to her favorite activity: gossiping. "So rumor is Booth has a date with Alex tonight."

"Rumor?" Cam asked glaring at the artist. Her face clearly questioned if there was a rumor or she was just going to create it.

"Oh, c'mon, Cam! He and Brennan were bickering about it when he left her here," Angela defended herself. Anyone could have heard the conversation; it wasn't that bad.

"Yes, he has a date tonight and he refuses to cancel even for the case. Nor is he canceling his free weekend," Brennan chimed in on their conversation.

"Yeah, having Parker half of the time comes with cutting down his hours, Dr. B," Hodgins explained her.

Brennan nodded accepting the explanation. "It is an appropriate adjustment. However, Booth has never put a date over a case before."

"Well, if you ask me, Dr. Brennan, Alex is special. We have our first hockey game of the season Saturday afternoon and he invited her," Wendell told them.

"Agent Studly is trying to impress the pretty doctor," Angela commented in her flirty voice.

"Hockey is a violent game in which Booth could demonstrate strength, power, leadership… Those are qualities highly valuable for a female in search of a mate."

"Like Angela said, Dr. Brennan, he wants to impress her," Cam stated trying to end the discussion.

Brennan nodded agreeing with the coroner. "Now, we should return to the case. The image of the fluoroscopy is complete."

"Looks like a human skeleton," Hodgins said.

"It is a skeleton or at least the cast of one," Arastoo agreed with him.

"So, the tissue must have decomposed before the concrete was poured," Cam deduced.

"Why?" asked Hodgins.

"Because otherwise we'd be looking at a mold of a human body instead of the mold of a skeleton," Brennan explained. Hodgins nodded accepting the very obvious reasoning, so obvious that he had missed it.

"What happened to the victim's clothing?" Cam asked.

"Natural fibers like cotton would have decomposed to dust or tatters in say, I don't know, four months," Hodgins answered the coroner.

"But not bones," Arastoo argued.

"If we can figure out what happened to the victim's skeleton structure we may be able to figure out what happened to him," Brennan deduced.

Arastoo put his attention back onto the portion of the skull that was still intact and found a dental tattoo: a hip-hop dancer doing a head spin.

"That could give us identity," Cam said, "dental tattoos aren't common."

"I will find it extremely frustrating if the victim's identity is all we can discern," Brennan said.

"Well, unless you can take bone dust and turn it back into a full skeleton, this is all we've got to work with," Cam retorted.

"Maybe Angela could use the fluoroscope images to recreate a virtual 3D model of the skeleton using the Angelatron," Wendell suggested. "We have the cast let's create the skeleton… well, virtual skeleton."

"Or not," Angela said suddenly having something to add to the discussion. "If I borrow the SLA from Archeology, I could grow a skeleton using the scans as the cast."

"Sorry… Angela, did you just say that you can grow a skeleton?" Cam asked astonished.

"Yes, with 3D printing technology," she answered. The rest of the team looked at her completely confused. They couldn't see how she was going to print a skeleton, so she explained it better. "An SLA is a Stereo Lithography Apparatus, which basically is a machine that uses lasers to cure a photopolymer liquid resin into a hard plastic 3D model. I'll use the data from the fluoroscopic scan to create a template and the SLA should create a plastic replica of the victim's skeleton."

"So you're gonna grow a skeleton, right?" Cam asked a little phased from the description of the technique that the artist wanted to use.

"How accurate will it be?" Brennan asked.

"That's for you and these two Mini-Brennans to find out, Sweetie," Angela answered pointing to Wendell and Arastoo.

"At worst it will be as accurate as a fossil," Brennan agreed to use this technique and Cam nodded to support the decision. "I find that I'm totally jazzed by your out-of-the-box lateral thinking," Brennan said, visibly impressed by her friend's idea.

* * *

While the squints did their best with what little they had, Booth used the dental tattoo to identify the victim. The guy was the only missing person of the D.C. area with a dental tattoo: Robert Pearson. From the missing persons report, Booth found that the guy was a dancer that studied at Cynthia Rinaldi's ballet studio. He ordered Shaw to investigate Cynthia and Robert, check everything in the report and dig a little deeper in both of them. What she discovered was that the file was as good as give; there simply wasn't much on the guy. He didn't have a family or a job, and he hadn't been in the studio for a whole year. The only new and interesting fact was that the teacher's father owned a construction company, probably making her well versed in construction sites.

Knowing that he would be leaving for the whole weekend, he investigated the construction site and the company responsible for it, and prepared a file with all the photographs and information about the site that Angela would need to recreate the murder, or to discover if it happened in the site.

Two hours shy from his clock-out almost everything that he could do at the moment was done and the information was sent to the Jeffersonian. So he decided to take the almost out of the sentence and went with Brennan to the studio to interview Cynthia. They discovered that she blamed Robert for breaking her ankle and possibly ending her career as a ballet dancer.

"Do you think that she murdered Robert?" Brennan asked Booth while they walked back to the SUV.

"Don't know. She's strong and mean, so it's possible," the agent answered and climbed into the car. "Hurry up, Bones, I gotta take you to the lab, pick Parker from his art class, go home and get ready for my date."

"Parker is enrolled in an art class?"

"Yep. He's spent enough time with Angela to love art. Some months ago, during one of our Skype chats, he told me about an art thing at the Jeffersonian. They teach him some art techniques and once a month they take the kids to an exposition in the museum. He practically begged Rebecca and me to let him join it. He loves it!"

"That seems very educational, not as much as the science program, though. Is that Professor Andrea Moon's program?"

"Yeah…that's her, why? And why do you think that it's less educational than the science program?" Brennan looked at him with a face that let him know that she thought that it was obvious. He didn't like it, that face always made him feel stupid, so he answered thinking carefully about his words to prove her wrong, "Angela is an artist and she's very valuable in the lab."

"Yes, but a great part of the reason why she is so valuable is her ability with computer science."

"Yes, but all that comes from the same place, Bones, her artistic mind. Without that, she wouldn't create so many new computer thingies."

Brennan nodded acknowledging his arguments, "I concede your point; I have no argument for that. And art can teach a lot about history.

"However, Professor Moon will be leaving the Jeffersonian next month and she's already looking for someone to take her position." Booth's face fell hearing that news. It surely explained why all the parents had received an email summoning them to a meeting with the teacher after next Friday's class. But no teacher means no program and Parker loved that program. "I'm sorry Booth, but I don't know if the program would last long," Brennan said apologetically. She was genuinely sorry; Parker was a good boy who deserved to have the class he wanted.

* * *

The partners burst into the lab to find the incredible spectacle of the lasers creating a replica of the victim's skeleton. Angela was on the platform making sure that everything was running smoothly before leaving for the night. She was accompanied by Wendell and Arastoo. They were looking at the plastic goo with childlike expressions.

"Wow… you're really growing a skeleton!" Booth exclaimed. His eyes were wide open in wonder.

"I feel like I'm in the future," Arastoo said as impressed as the others. At least, he was capable of speech. Wendell was so enraptured by it that he couldn't say a word.

"Time travel is impossible, Mr. Vaziri. But I know exactly what you mean," Brennan commented climbing onto the platform too.

She was soon followed by Cam, who even if suitably impressed decided to show it with her natural and charming sarcasm. "Wow. If you're taking orders I'd like a six foot four, 37 year-old male with a good income and no mommy issues."

"Sorry, Cam, but Mr. Plastic-guy wouldn't be very talkative and Paul wouldn't like to share you with him," Booth joked.

"You could grab Studly again," Angela suggested in a very flirty way.

"Nope. I'm 38 and currently unavailable. Sorry Cam, no Booth, no Mr. Plastic, you stick with Dr. Lady-parts…you shouldn't have complaints," the agent answered emphasizing his little jab about complaints.

"Now, now, Big Guy, don't mess with my fantasies, stop mocking me about Paul's profession, and go to your date!" the coroner retorted smiling.

Booth laughed, waved to the squints goodbye, and walked away. He was half way to the door when something occurred to him. "Angela, could I ask you a favor? It doesn't have to be permanent, just a temporary solution… Professor Moon is leaving and I'm not sure if there's someone taking the kids class and…" He was babbling and he knew it; the difficult part was stopping it.

"I've already told Goodman that I'll be taking care of that class, Booth. Cam told me how much Parker likes it," the artist told him with a big smile cutting his ramblings. "Now go. Arriving late on the first date is very wrong."

Booth thanked her and practically ran to the door. The sooner he picked up Parker the sooner he would be picking up Alex.

"Oh, Studly, I'll be watching that impress-the-girl game tomorrow!" Angela called after him.

* * *

At seven that night, Booth was at Alex's door looking dapper in jeans and his good black dress shirt. He rang the bell and Alex opened the door in a, in Booth's opinion, gorgeous red dress.

"Hi, Booth," she smiled at him. He smiled back and stared at her. Yes, he stared. He's a guy and he does admire a beautiful woman in a beautiful dress. "I'll take my jacket and purse and we can go."

"Take your time," he answered still staring, now at her retreating back. Practically his whole attention was on her, except the little part that told him that he was being watched. "Why do I feel like I'm being watched?" he asked Alex when she returned to the door ready to leave for their date.

"Probably 'cause Susan is glued to the peephole to get a good look at you," she answered smirking. "Maya and Sarah are with her, and she has spent days trying to get me to introduce you to her as payment for babysitting but I refused. Of course it won't work forever, but I won't allow Susan to scare you out of dating me. You're the first guy that has asked me out in almost two years since Kevin died."

"I don't scare easily, Alex," the agent answered smirking at her, "I was a Ranger and now I'm an FBI Special Agent… Special!"

"Don't remind me. Of all the guys I could like, I like the one with the dangerous job." Alex smirked trying to let him know that she was honest. She wasn't dating him just because he asked but because she liked him.

"Oh, you like me… I hadn't noticed," he joked. "I like you too," he added more serious. He helped her into her jacket; intertwined his arm with hers and directed her towards his car. They walked there, smiling like fools, and Booth opened the passenger's door making a flourish with his arms. "Your carriage awaits milady."

Alex laughed wholeheartedly and got into the car. "Oh, my… Thank you, kind sir."

* * *

For the squints Saturday came with a plastic replica of the victim's skeleton ready to be examined. They were all very impressed with the accuracy of it, and they let Angela know it.

"The detail is remarkable," Arastoo praised her with a childlike look of wonder. Wendell nodded and whistled to show his appreciation.

"Thank you."

"It's even flexible at the joints where the tendons and ligaments were replicated," Cam commented as impressed as the other two.

"But can we get anything useful from it?" the artist asked a little doubtful.

"The victim had turned-out hips and high arches. That, along with the muscle attachments at the shoulders and hips, confirms that he was a ballet dancer," Arastoo explained proving that they indeed could get something useful from the replica.

"Okay, Arastoo, do you think that you could put tissue markers with enough precision for me to do a facial reconstruction?" Arastoo and Wendell nodded, both thinking that the replica was good enough for that. "Then I'd be able to confirm ID. There is no dental record on Robert Pearson. The only thing we have to ID him is the dental tattoo and Booth would want something more to confirm it."

"There are nicks on the lateral and posterior surfaces," Wendell added and Cam bent down over it trying to see them.

"Okay, why don't you just flip it over so we can get a better look?" Angela pointed out the obvious.

"We never flip over a real skeleton," Arastoo answered somehow a little shocked with the suggestion.

"Ah, lucky for us, this is a replica. Come on. Grab a limb," Cam ordered and everyone grabbed the plastic replica and they turned it around.

"Okay," a chorus of squints said.

"Hey, that was kind of fun," Angela said smiling. She loved this case; it was very much up her alley.

"These nicks suggest that he was stabbed," Wendell said pointing to the nicks in the victim's back.

"Or impaled," Cam corrected him bluntly. "We haven't proven murder yet, Mr. Bray. It's possible that the victim blundered into a construction site, fell into the foundation, and impaled himself on rebar."

Brennan joined them then, and the three bone squints spent the day studying the plastic replica while Angela did the facial reconstruction. They discovered that the nicks on the victim's back were congruent with impaling but that none of them suggested cause of death, and Arastoo discovered that Robert used to spin his head on a thin cardboard on the street because he had remodeled circular microfractures on the skull.

For Cam, the later coupled with the positive ID from Angela meant that the guy was a street dancer in Kalorama Park. It gave Booth enough to work with on Monday, so she called it a day and threw the squints out of the lab. Wendell was already leaving to get to his game; Angela had made it clear that the Hodgins' would be leaving for that same game with the intern too. Keeping Arastoo seemed cruel so she did a little convincing and dragged both the intern and his professor out of the lab and into the world of hockey.

* * *

At the ice rink the players were warming up and chatting a little while the squints were seated on the stands and Parker watched his father from the barrier. Booth was quite happy to have them there especially when he saw that Cam was with them. He knew that the coroner from the Bronx would control them; she would make sure that they don't scare Alex off.

Alex entered the building with Sarah in her carrier and Maya bouncing more than walking by her side.

"Mom, where's Booth?" Maya asked happily. She was looking around trying to find him.

"He's there, on the ice," Alex answered pointing to the players on the rink. Maya smiled and bounced towards the ice.

Alex called her to stop running and return to her side. The girl stopped reluctantly, and looking at her mother, she shouted, "Come on, mom! Booth's there!" Alex laughed at her enthusiasm but nonetheless she picked up her pace.

Booth saw them, waved at them from the middle of the rink, and then skated to the door so he could greet them. Maya mimicked giving him a big kiss and Booth crouched down to her level to return it kissing her soundly on the cheek. When he straightened up again, Alex spoke. "Don't I get a kiss too?" Booth had always been a smart guy, not squint smart but smart nonetheless, and he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to kiss his girl, so he gave Alex a soft peck on the lips.

"So, you ready to impress the ladies, Booth?" Alex asked knowingly in a flirty voice.

"Can't blame a guy for trying, can you?" He gave her his charm smile, just in case.

"Nope. I can't. But don't worry I'll be suitably impressed."

"How do you know that?"

"It's hockey," she answered as if it was obvious.

Booth smiled at that, and pointed to where the squints, and Parker whenever he finally decides to join them, were seated. He asked her to sit with them and after one more kiss, this one for luck, she turned around and started walking towards them.

"Wait mom! I have to kiss him luck too," Maya said and ran back to the agent.

Booth crouched again so that the little girl could kiss him, and received a big, sonorous kiss. "Thanks, Maya. With so much luck, I'm gonna win for sure now."

* * *

The squints observed the exchange from their seats with some amusement. "She's very cute," Hodgins commented on the little girl. "And her mom is hot."

Angela smacked him upside the head but agreed with a nod. "Maya seems to like Booth very much."

Brennan looked warily at Cam. "Aren't you worried that Dr. Foster is looking for a male to take the role of father?"

Cam glared at her trying to convey that those kinds of comments weren't appropriate, but then she thought that she probably was just phrasing her worry in her very squinty and offensive way. "Dr. Brennan, of course Alex is looking for a father for her girls but not in the way you're implying. She's looking for a good man to share her life with and that person must be a father for her daughters. That man must understand that he's expected to take both roles: boyfriend and father."

"Sweetie, I know you mean well but please be careful with how you say things, okay?" Angela admonished gently, "Booth likes Alex very much and we shouldn't offend her."

Brennan nodded accepting her friend's lecture. "The fact that Booth has developed such strong feelings for Dr. Foster in such a short amount of time worries me. I am worried that her intentions aren't as good as Booth's."

Angela, Cam and Hodgins looked at her dubiously, thinking that it was probably a manifestation of a new found and misinterpreted jealousy but they said nothing.

Hodgins answered her statement as if he took it at face value, "Dr. B., Alex likes Booth very much and while it is a necessary condition for her to date him, it isn't a sufficient condition. Her daughters must like him too."

"I see. She brings her offspring to their dates not because she wants Booth to take the role of father but because she needs to ascertain that he can take said role in addition to the role of her mate before she definitively accepts him as her mate." The squints nodded. Her anthropological explanation was ten times longer and more complicated, but it was exactly what Hodgins and Cam had told her. "Thanks, Hodgins."

"Well, mate is very weird word to use, Dr. Brennan, but you're partially right. Before I dated him I needed to know that my daughters liked him. In the same way, Booth needed to see that Parker liked me, and that's why we went for a snack with the kids after the Dude's show. However, today they're here because Maya wanted to see him and because I don't like getting a babysitter unnecessarily," Alex answered firmly in a voice that would have told anyone that Brennan was getting a free pass for this one, and that it was an unique occasion.

"Hi, Alex," Angela said a little embarrassed at being caught talking about the woman.

"Hi, Angela, Hodgins, Cam," Alex greeted the squints ignoring the gossip and Brennan's comments. "And you are?"

"Arastoo Vaziri. Dr. Foster, I presume," the squintern said as polite as possible.

"Alex, please. It's okay if I call you Arastoo?" He nodded smiling at the woman and that seemed to settle the introductions part of the evening.

"So, Alex, just for the sake of gossip, how was your date with Booth yesterday?" Angela decided to get some conversation going. Cam and Hodgins got near to hear everything and Alex smiled at how much gossip lovers the squints were.

Angela's need for gossip seemed to break the awkward moment and they watched the game in friendly companionship.

Booth's team won, of course. He was very motivated and it showed. The other guys of the team couldn't stop themselves and commented on it mocking Booth about it in a friendly way when they were leaving the locker room.

"Bring that hot mama next time, would ya? We'll beat those annoying metro cops into the ice," one of them said in a very saucy way.

Booth was ready to verbally smack the guy down when he saw Alex standing just a few steps away shaking her head to stop him. "I may be a hot mama but I can make you a eunuch in two seconds flat wearing my four inch heels, so don't call me that. You aren't allowed to do it."

"Does that mean that Booth can?" someone else asked. He too was silenced by her glare and they finally calmed down. That allowed her to talk to Wendell and Booth, which was why she was there.

"The 'squints' want to go for dinner. They wanted me to tell you that they'll meet us at Sid's," she said pulling a confused face to let him know that she knew nothing about the place or Sid himself.

Wendell told them that they would meet them there and walked out, giving the couple some privacy. Booth grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him for a kiss, and it was then that he noticed that something was wrong. "What's the problem, Alex?" he asked gently and making eye contact with her. He never let her hand go. He wanted to make her feel wanted.

Alex hesitated at first to talk, but she knew that they weren't going to move from the spot until she either told him the truth or promised to tell him later. She saw Cam waiting at the stands with the three kids and knew that she didn't have all day, so she decided to speak. "Do you think that I'm trying to trap you into being the father of my 'offspring'?" she asked in a somewhat sardonic way.

Booth saw red, that sentence could only come from one place: Brennan. He took a deep breath before speaking because Alex didn't deserve to bear his anger that was directed at someone else, "I like your 'offspring' very much and I know that you are a packaged deal. I either date the three beautiful ladies or none. But no, I don't think you're trying to trap me into it. I don't doubt your intentions, Alex."

Alex nodded and Booth pulled her once again to his body to hug her trying to reassure her. After some seconds, he pulled away but held her hand again. Then, he started walking to where Cam and the kids waited for them.

After that, the dinner at Wong Fu's was a relaxed affair. Sid liked Alex and her daughters very much and treated them and Parker to a special chocolate dessert, which the women at the table promptly demanded to try.

The only thing that shadowed the evening was the tension between Booth and Brennan. Booth was angry at her and he really didn't have the energy to play nice so he decided to just ignore her as much as possible. He didn't speak a word to her, and he was thankful when the squints didn't force it and just acted as if the tension wasn't there. It allowed him to enjoy the evening while still ignoring his partner's hurtful words for the moment, but it also told him that her accusations had been done in front of everyone. He was extremely angry but he wasn't going to ruin the night. He'll wait; the time to let his anger out would come soon, though.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please tell me what you think :-)**

**To everyone who put this story/me in their alert/favorite lists, and to everyone who reviewed: THANKS :-D**

* * *

**Julianne: **Thanks for your last review. :-)

Yes, deciding what to include in the story and what to change can be a challenge, but I do enjoy it so I guess it's not bad. I liked the Dude's episode because it reminded me of my childhood, I loved the science programs for kids and MacGyver. I was and am a nerd. Like you, I also enjoy teaching science to kids, it's a good way of earning money and kids often surprise you with how they see the world. :-)

I have to agree with you, charismatic is the way to go... ;-)

If you ever get an account, let me know. If not, I'll continue to answer this way. I hope you enjoy this new chapter.


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